A Tale of Shining Stars 1: Path of Starlight
by Axel Nightblazer
Summary: Peach and Hanna have been kidnapped by Bowser. Mario, Luigi, Terra, Axel, and Aeron must save them. But who knows what awaits them as they explore the cosmos? Dedicated to Tomato3456 and Jokester94n because they are awesome and because they inspired me.
1. Prelude to the Shining Stars

**HELLO FANFICTION! =D**

**It's Axel Nightblazer here, ready to write a pwnsome story that will most likely be a masterpiece! I am pouring everything in my nonexistent totally frazzled corrupted torn apart brain I have into this one, so I hope you enjoy it!**

**I won't be able to say stuff at the beginning and end of each chapter…because THIS IS ALL A BOOK. Sorry, this means my communication with you has now been walled off.**

**My style probably will be warped in this, but I hope you'll enjoy it. Remember that this fanfic takes place after Shadows of the Demon is finished . I hope you'll enjoy.**

**Dedicated to Youtubers Tomato3456 and Jokester94n even though they don't know I exist because they are awesome, they inspired me...and I'm using characters based on their series' except slightly different. If they take offense, I hope they accept my apologies and chocolate chip cookies.**

* * *

"All right, my children, it's time for bed…"

"Mama! Can you please tell us a story first?"

"Of course, my dear."

Rosalina stepped up to the bookshelf and began screening through random books, wondering which one she should read.

Her eyes then fell upon one with a deep blue cover, with multiple white specks on it. A yellow Star was on the center, and multiple streaks ran around it. Red, cerulean, yellow green, emerald green and gold, sapphire blue and silver, white, black, ocean blue, silver, emerald, pale green, pink…she knew this book very well.

The book was called _A Tale of Shining Stars,_ and it was by Axel Nightblazer. He had taken all the logs from Starship Mario and placed them in a book. And he had added little stories about funny things that happened along the way, as well as a prologue and all that crap.

Rosalina let her eyes close, her mind open to the memories of the adventure…and then she remembered the Lumas had told her to tell a story. She decided to read _A __Tale of Shining Stars_ to them.

Rosalina headed to her chair, and the Lumas all gathered around her. Rosalina looked at all of them, opened the book, and said:

"Now, let me tell you another story that begins with stardust…"

* * *

_Every one hundred years, a comet streaks across the sky of the Mushroom Kingdom, showering the land with beautiful, shining stardust._

_One year, the Mushroom Kingdom was experiencing a horrible year. Their warriors were defeated many times in battle; they had a bad crop that year; what food they did have was pillaged, and it was all hardships and chaos. Then the comet came, showering the land with vast amounts of shards packed with compressed stardust._

_The Toads collected these shards, and combined them to form a great Power Star. After that, their crops grew much better, diseases stopped spreading in the land, their warriors infallible, and their trees bore plentiful fruit._

_It was a very happy time in the Mushroom Kingdom. Since then, they have held a five-day festival honoring the comet as it passes over the sky on that curious sight which can only be seen once every one hundred years._

_Now, our story begins at one of those festivals…_


	2. Here we go!

**The past month went by without disruption; t****he horrible reign of shadow that Cipher threatened to create never happened.**

**Everything seemed to be normal…****And it seemed like my friends and I could finally enjoy true peace.**

**Of course, one day, I received a letter from my friend Hanna Bladesinger. A festival was coming up in the Mushroom Kingdom, and she was allowed to invite some friends to the special ball going on at the castle-I was one of the ones she chose, as well as my brother Aeron.**

**Invitation in hand, I headed for the Mushroom Kingdom. Little did I know that this would be the start of a journey which would see the dawn of new friendships, times that would try our hearts, and the genesis of ten brightly shining stars...  
**

**-Axel Nightblazer**

* * *

**Traveler's Log Entry 01: Here We Go!**

**Mario**

* * *

Hello! It's-a me, Mario!

If you don't know who I am, you must live under a rock! Everyone knows who I am because I am so awesome!

Anyway, the whole thing began with this letter:

**T**

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! OH MY GOD THAT WAS HILARIOUS! GET IT? "THE WHOLE THING" BEGINS WITH THE LETTER T! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

Okay, that was a bad joke. The whole thing _really _began with a letter from Princess Peach.

* * *

**Dear Mario and Luigi,**

**You two are invited to the Star Festival, which begins April 22 at twilight. I'll be waiting for you in front of the castle. I'd like to share some cake with you two while we watch the shooting stars. Also, there's a friend of mine I'd like you to meet.**

**Sincerely,  
Princess Peach**

* * *

I don't know why she invited Luigi, but obviously, she would invite ME because I am so awesome! Duh!

Anyway, I went up to Luigi, who was working on some supercomputer thing. He was saying something about inserting a motherboard and whacking it a few times to get it in place. Real nerdy stuff. "LUIGI!" I shouted.

"WHA!" he yelled, hitting the motherboard at the wrong angle and bending it. Not my problem. Then he noticed something on the screen.

_Self destruct in 3...2...1..._

"WHAT THE FU-?"

**BOOOM!**

"CRAP! THE MOTHERBOARD WAS BENT! I'D ALREADY WIRED IT TO THE OTHER SYSTEMS, AND IF IT WAS DESTROYED, A CHAIN REACTION WOULD OCCUR, DESTROYING THE WHOLE THING! MARIO, WHY'D YOU HAVE TO DO THAT? YOU DON'T HAVE TO YELL SO LOUDLY!"

"WELL YOUR HEAD IS SO THICK, YOU CAN'T THINK ABOUT A THING OTHER THAN YOUR COMPUTER SO I HAVE TO YELL!" I yelled back.

"Aaah! You're impossible!" Luigi said. "So, what do you want?" I showed him the invitation. "Wow! An invitation to the Star Festival? What are we waiting for?" He suddenly got a nervous look. "OH CRAP! IT'S GETTING DARK! WE HAVE TO GET MOVING!"

"Well, what's the day?" I asked.

"APRIL 22ND!" shouted Luigi. Immediately, I realized and got worried: the festival was TONIGHT. "DO YOU EVER LOOK AT CALENDARS? WE GOTTA GET GOING! PRONTO!"

* * *

A pipe popped out of the ground in front of the gates to Toad Town, and the castle beyond. Me and Luigi jumped out, landing on the soft grass, as beautiful streaks of color rained from the giant bright blue shooting star in the darkened sky, scattering stardust across the town. "The Star Festival is always awesome, isn't it?" I asked Luigi.

"Yeah," Luigi agreed as we went up to the gates. The guards moved to stop us to see if we were allowed in on their list, but we showed them our invitations, so they would let us in. "Great! We're in! Now what?" Luigi asked as we neared the brightly decorated Toad Town, with its star-shaped lamps and multicolored strings of flags hanging from each red-tiled roof in the whole town.

"We enjoy ourselves, duh!" I replied. And so we went, collecting falling Star Bits (the name we've given for the Stardust) on the way to the town and chatting with Toads. In Toad Town, the denizens of the village greeted us warmly while watching the stars fall, and giving out cake and other stuff like that.

And then we ran into those two.

"Hey, there's the castle up ahead!" I shouted, pointing. "Come on, Luigi!" Excited, I ran through the town without waiting for Luigi. "Peach, here we co-" I began, rounding a corner to arrive at the castle gates. Except as soon as I rounded the corner, there was a guy entering the gates at that moment, and I couldn't stop, so I ran into him. "OW!" I shouted, falling to the ground. Immediately, I jumped up and screamed, "WHY DID YOU BUMP INTO ME? YOU'VE GOT A LOT OF NERVE, SINCE I AM THE AWESOME MARIO!"

The guy brushed off his ridiculously fancy coat, which was a very dark shade of blue and lined with silver fabric. The coat curved around his back, down to his knees, but there was seemingly no zipper as they angled up to meet at his waist. Further up, another section curved in front of him, meeting at his chest. Two more pieces of fabric, again outlined with silver, rested on his shoulders, and he had a collar which curved around the back of his neck. If you don't understand, just look at the character IV from Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal (he features prominently in episode 33) and swap out the colors for dark blue and silver where I said they were and go with it. They're pretty similar.

His long, sapphire shirt had cuffs on the ends designed similarly to his coat, and he also had sapphire blue pants. Black boots extended up to his knees, ending in dark blue cuffs. Resting on his sapphire blue hair was a pair of dark blue and silver headphones. Sheesh, his outfit even had sparkles around it!

His dark blue eyes glared at me with annoyance. "Bump into you? You were the one who smashed into me from behind! You should watch where you're going, idiot!"

"IDIOT? DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU'RE TALKING TO?"

It was then that another guy suddenly walked over and forced us apart with a split kick. "Will you two knock it off?" he said, annoyed. "Just because of an accident doesn't mean you have to hold a grudge!"

"BUT HE BUMPED INTO ME! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?" I yelled.

"Hm...let me think...oh yeah, you're Mario," said the green guy. "Thing is, you're a lot more egotistical than I thought."

"So?" I asked. "I'm still the most awesome person in the whole entire world! And seriously, do you think fancy outfits will make you any more awesome than me? Even those can't compare with my awesomeness!"

That green guy I mentioned? He actually had black hair and green eyes. But his coat was green and went down to his ankles. Several golden patterns spiraled around his sleeves, and shot down his back in a fashion akin to flames. He had a high collar, and green cargo pants (which TOTALLY didn't match up with the rest of the outfit) and brown dress shoes. Even so, his face was cool and unaffected by what I just said. "Fancy outfits have nothing to do with it. We just wear them because this is a formal event."

"That's _his_ reason," the headphones dude interrupted. "But I, on the other hand, wear this stuff because I need to give the people here at this festival my best Fan Service."

In one lightning-fast kick, the green guy sent the headphones dude flying off into the lake. "Did he have to talk about his 'Fan Service' here? But anyway, Mario, yes, you're right. They can't compare to your awesomeness..." As he turned away, though, he muttered, "They're superior by far."

"WHAT WAS THAT?" I shouted, but was interrupted.

"Mario? _Nani o shiteru?_ (What are you doing?)" And then a young girl wearing a green T-shirt and matching-miniskirt walked up to us. She was wearing brown sandals, and had short, messy brown hair. She had...she'll get angry at me if I say "green," so...emerald-colored eyes. Then she saw Aeron, and was a bit startled. Immediately, her shy side kicked in, and she began to stammer. "U-um...h-hello..."

"Oh, hey Terra," I called, deciding to ignore the green guy for a few seconds. "I'm just showing this guy how awesome I am!"

"Enough," the green guy suddenly declared, holding up a hand. "This is a festival; we shouldn't be fighting here." Then he turned to Terra with a friendly smile. "_Konbanwa. Anata no namae wa?_ (Good evening. What's your name?)"

"E-eh?" Terra was surprised that he was talking to her. But that was okay, because unlike with me, he was around her level of awesome. "_W-watashi wa T-Terra desu...D-domo yoroshiku o-onegai shimasu._ (I'm Terra...Pleased to meet you.)" She put on a shaky smile and bowed a little.

The green guy smiled back. "_Ore wa Aeron Solo desu. Domo yoroshiku onegai shimasu."_ (I'm Aeron Solo. Pleased to meet you.) He bowed as well.

"_O-Ore?_" Terra repeated, looking surprised. (Both _watashi _and _ore_ mean "I," but _ore_ is more boastful and only should be used if you're as awesome as I am.)

"Yeah, I'm a bit boastful," Aeron replied, grinning. "Hope I didn't offend you, but I'm...well, I guess you could say boastful for a reason."

"You mean boastful for _no_ reason. I'm clearly better," I shot as I turned on my heel. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be going to the castle now, where the awesome people were!" Luigi and Aeron both facepalmed, but Terra's shoulders sagged. "Hey, Terra, is something wrong?" I asked.

Terra opened her mouth to reply, but then Aeron spoke before she could. "Of course it is. She's sad because you're an arrogant ass."

Terra gasped at his language, and I was mad in an instant. "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?"

"Her body language was enough to tell me," Aeron replied. "She thinks exactly that way, but she's just too nice to say it. Okay, maybe in nicer words, but still."

"That's not true! Right, Terra?" I asked, turning to her.

But Terra kind of sighed and bent over a little. "Well, you _do_ act sort of mean, Mario..."

"Exactly," Aeron replied, turning away. "Now _I'll_ be heading to the castle; I heard there's cool stuff like a ball going on over there."

"Eh? Don't you need a special invitation to go there?" Terra asked.

"Yeah, and you wouldn't have one, because Peach probably didn't-" I began.

My words abruptly halted when I saw Aeron hold an envelope over his shoulder. Peach's seal-a golden crown with two blue and one red gem embedded inside- was on it. "What are you talking about? I have an invitation."

"WHAT? HOW DID YOU GET THAT?" I shouted. Seriously, what was so special about _him_?

"My girlfriend is a good friend of Peach, and she got some invitations to the Star Festival," Aeron replied, continuing to walk. "So she gave me one, as well as my brother, Axel. Also...Terra, are _you_ going to the castle?"

"No," Terra replied sadly. "I don't have an invitation..."

"You look like you want to go, though," Aeron noted. "Tell you what...we had one last invitation but didn't know who to give it to." He took another identical envelope out of his pocket and tossed it to Terra, who fumbled a bit before finally catching it. "I'll see you all there," Aeron called, and a gust of wind swept up, causing dust to blow in front of us until we couldn't see him. As the wind blew, a mischievous, lighthearted laugh rang out in the darkness. Then when the dust settled, he was gone!

"Whoa, that was weird," Luigi commented. "Anyway, come on, Terra, let's go."

"A-ah," Terra agreed, and we walked through the gates into the grand Mushroom Kingdom castle.

Red tiles covered its oddly flat roof and the four towers, and the spire on the castle extended high into the air, almost as if it was going to reach the stars. A balcony stood above the door under a stained glass window of Peach. And standing on the balcony, accompanied by a girl with red hair in a blue dress, stood...Princess Peach herself! "Oh! Mario's here!" she cried happily, and waved. "Mario! Luigi! You finally came!"

"Hey, Peach!" I shouted, waving back. "Now this party can _really_ begin!"

* * *

Inside the castle, the decorations had been changed significantly. Instead of being painted like a bright blue sky with several clouds in it towards the bottom, and light green hills in the background, the sky was now dark blue, with spiraling galaxies, shining stars, and streaking comets all over the walls. The ceiling of the room was now decorated with an eight-pointed star, from which an eight-armed chandelier hung, decorated with Star Bits in place of candles. The mat on the floor, in reflection of the ceiling, was also changed to a eight-point star pattern. The carpets were changed from a warm red to a wispy blue-gray, and the tiled floor had been repainted to also show galaxies and stars.

Inside, people were dancing/eating/talking. "Wow, there are lots of people here!" I commented. Terra shrank back a little, since she doesn't feel that awesome around a lot of people. That or she isn't. Then I looked over to the top of the staircase and saw Aeron with the headphones dude from before-probably that Axel guy he mentioned. As I went up the stairs, I gave them a glare before going up to Peach.

Peach left the balcony to walk over to me. "Welcome, Mario!" she said cheerfully. "Have you been enjoying yourself?"

"Oh, yeah!" I replied, but then I noticed the girl with red hair behind her again. "Hey, who's that?"

The girl walked up to me and introduced herself. "Hanna Bladesinger. A pleasure to meet you." She curtsied.

"Um, hi! I'm Mario!" I replied. _Is this Aeron's girlfriend?_ _Whatever._ "Oh yeah, Peach, I ran into these annoying guys in ridiculously fancy-looking outfits called Axel and Aeron. Do you know them at all? They were kind of full of themselves."

"Axel and Aeron? Oh, those are my friends," Hanna immediately interjected. "Yeah, they're a bit annoying."

"But they sure can't beat me in awesomeness!" I declared, thrusting a fist into the air. "Because I am so awes-" Before I could even finish the word, Axel whirled around and threw a half-eaten cookie at me, smashing me in the side of the head. Incredibly quickly, I went falling to the ground. "AUGH WHO THREW THAT?" I shouted, leaping to my feet, but Axel had already went back to his original position.

"That was probably Axel," Hanna muttered. "But anyway, it's not good to go on and on about how awesome you are. Seriously."

"But it's true!" I protested. "Everyone knows who I am, and-"

"And you are a disappointment when you meet them in person because you don't give them enough Fan Service," Axel suddenly called out.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" I shouted again, but Axel was already talking with Aeron about something dumb. Ignoring me. Reeeeal mature. "Hate those guys," I muttered.

"I'm sure they like you just as much," Hanna retorted. "But anyway, Peach, I'll introduce you to Axel and Aeron now." And off they walked.

"Wonder how much Peach'll like them," I muttered. They weren't that awesome...right?

* * *

Terra, meanwhile, was trying not to be noticed very much. She had tripped about three times already, and feeling kind of dumb. "Don't trip again, Terra," she whispered to herself. But then she saw Hanna walking over to Axel and Aeron with Peach. "Oh...it's Hanna Bladesinger," she noticed.

"Wait, how do you know her?" I asked.

"She's famous for her singing," Terra replied in an awed voice. The way she was talking, it made it sound like she was in the presence of an idol.

...which is pretty dumb, because if anyone should have an idol, it should be ME. "Yeah, that's great. I don't see how she's so awesome," I replied.

Hanna somehow noticed that Terra was looking at her and turned. "What are you just standing there staring for? Come over here; don't be shy."

"E-eh?" Terra, startled, attempted to retreat to where she couldn't be seen, but it didn't work. Hanna already knew she was there. After much persuasion, Terra finally sighed and reappeared, then slowly began to walk towards Hanna. "Don't trip, don't trip, don't trip..." she whispered nervously to herself.

"Huh?" Peach was surprised to see Terra here. "That's Terra...she's one of the residents of Toad Town. What's she doing here?"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention," Aeron remembered. "Hanna, you know that last invitation we got but couldn't find a person to give? I gave it to her, since it seemed she wanted to come. You're not gonna kill me for that, right?"

"Well, if none of our friends could come, then that's just fine," Hanna replied, then turned to Terra. "Your name's Terra, correct?" A bit shocked that she knew, Terra attempted to speak, but finally nodded amidst a storm of stammers. "Why the shy stares? You know who I am?"

"B-Bladesinger-san, your s-singing is f-f-famous," Terra stammered nervously. "I-I-I know w-who you are b-because I-I heard a-about y-your singing..."

"Oh, so that's it," Hanna said. "Say, Terra, do you sing yourself?" After several moments of stammering, Terra finally gave up and nodded. "Interesting...I don't suppose you could show me how well you sing?" Hanna asked, seeming interested.

Terra immediately looked around the room frantically. The room was full of people, and a few were looking in her direction. "I-I can't sing v-v-very well..."

"Perhaps it'd be better if we did this outside," Aeron suggested, gesturing towards the door. "It seems Terra doesn't want to sing in front of so many people."

Hanna considered this, then looked at Terra. "Would you prefer that, Terra?" Completely unable to speak, Terra nodded with the look of a helpless victim of torment. "Good. Right this way..." And Hanna, Aeron and Terra disappeared out the door.

Peach, meanwhile, began a conversation with Axel. "So you're from the Pokémon Regions? That's interesting, but I don't see any Pokémon with you. Did you do anything interesting there, or are you just another Pokémon Trainer?"

"Both Aeron and I left our Pokémon at home for the sake of keeping our houses in order, and if we chose any one to take along the others would accuse us of picking favorites," Axel replied coolly, leaning against the wall. "And as for anything interesting I've done, there's not much to be said, save for the fact that I took over the place of Tower Tycoon when the old one went to train for a few months. As a Frontier Brain for five months, I had to work pretty hard-harder than I usually did. Battling trainers everyday...it was quite hard to keep my Fan Service consistently exceptional."

"'Fan Service'?" Peach raised an eyebrow. "You've had fans that long?"

"I'm just that awesome," Axel replied smugly. "Anyway, as my Fan Service will require me to do..." He held out his hand. "I don't exactly have a date...would it be alright if I asked you to dance with me?"

Before Peach could reply, I barged in. Come on, Peach is MY girlfriend! "Forget it!" I retorted. "She HAS a date, and that's ME!"

Axel gave me an annoyed look, but then Peach told me, "Don't worry, Mario, I'll dance with you soon, but seeing as Axel doesn't..." She turned to Axel and took his hand. "I'd be delighted to dance with you, Axel."

As the two danced, I watched with nothing but annoyance towards Axel. However, his movements were smooth and graceful-much more than Peach or anyone else's dancing. It was like his entire soul was in sync with the music itself. "Show-off," I muttered, walking off.

"He _is_ a good dancer," Luigi commented, watching him keep dancing.

"Yeah. He's great," I agreed halfheartedly, not looking at either Luigi or Axel.

"You _are_ being kind of rude, Mario," Luigi scolded. "You shouldn't go treating everyone as though they're lesser beings who see you as their god. It's kind of arrogant."

I muttered something about getting cake and walked away from Luigi.

* * *

Terra watched the crystal blue lake with the anxiety of someone who is about to go into a concert or recital and doesn't feel prepared enough...actually, this _was_ the case. Sort of. "W-w-w-w-when should I s-start?" she managed.

"Whenever you're ready, Terra," Hanna replied, standing next to her. Aeron sat on a bench out of sight.

Terra turned away and began to sing, but could barely even get out the notes. They sort of caught in her throat and got in the way of each other. The entire song turned out to be a mess. "N-n-never m-mind, I-I t-told you I c-can't si-sing well..." she finally sighed resignedly, and sat down on the grass glumly.

Hanna noticed the way she was stammering. "Terra, does it bother you that I'm listening to your singing?"

"E-eh? N-n-n-no! That's not true!" Terra replied quickly. "I-I'm j-just n-not good..."

"You know that's not true," Hanna interrupted gently. "I believe you're a good singer. You just get nervous around people about making mistakes, and so you constantly make the excuse that you're bad at singing."

Terra, unable to reply, turned away to stare across the lake. "A-ano...Bladesinger-san...do you think you could give me some time alone? I-I need to p-practice..."

Hanna seemed to consider, and then suddenly her eyes lit up with an idea, but Terra didn't see this. "I see. Alright then; I suppose as the guest of honor it was getting time for me to return inside anyway. When you feel better, come back in." Instead of walking back into the castle, though, she walked over to the bench Aeron was sitting on and sat next to him. "Let's not give ourselves away, shall we?" she whispered. Aeron nodded.

Terra had not even turned once while Hanna was speaking. Believing she was alone, she walked up to a rock on the edge of the crystal-clear water. And then she began to sing _Sore ga, Ai Deshou_ by Mikune Shimokawa. And boy, did she sing it good!

_"Tatoeba ne namida ga koboreru hi ni ha,  
Sono senaka wo hitorijime shitai kedo..._

**Even if there are days when the tears roll down my cheeks,  
I want to have your back all for myself, but...**

_Yasashisa ha tokidoki zankoku dakara,  
__Motomeru hodo kotae wo miushinau._

**Because kindness is also cruel sometimes,**  
**I lose sight of the answer the more I search for it.**

_Ameagari no machi niji ga mieru nara,  
Ima arukidasou, nani ka ga hajimaru..._

**If you can see the rainbow in the town after the rain,  
Let's start walking now, something is about to begin...**

_Kimi ga iru kara. asu ga aru kara,  
__Hitorikiri ja ikite yukenai kara...  
__Konna ni chikaku ni kanjiru, sore ga, ai deshou.  
__Namida no kazu no itami wo kimi ha shitteru kara,  
__Sukitooru sono me no naka ni tashika na imi wo sagashite...  
__Egao mitsuketai._

**Because I have you, because I have tomorrow,  
Because I can't live on all alone...  
I feel you so close by me, I guess that's love.  
Because you know how much pain tears can bring,  
****As I search your transparent eyes for a definite meaning,  
I hope that I find a smile."**

"Well, well, well! What happened to 'I can't sing well?'" Hanna asked loudly. Terra, startled by Hanna's sudden words, lost her balance, falling into the lake.

"That may have not been the best idea," Aeron commented, standing up to get Terra out of the water.

* * *

Hanna and Aeron took Terra to a separate room to dry off (somehow without being noticed). "Sorry for scaring you," Hanna apologized. "I wanted to stick around for your...uh...practice. It sounded great."

"H-h-h-how much d-did you hear?" Terra asked through chattering teeth. "Y-y-y-y-you d-didn't hear a-a-all of it, d-did you?"

"Well, we heard all of it," Aeron replied, scratching the back of his head. "I must say, for someone of your age-I'd say around 10 to 12-you've got one of the best singing voices I've heard. I'm not joking," he added when Terra gave him a disbelieving stare.

"I-I only s-s-s-sing well when I-I'm alone," Terra sighed, huddling in the blanket wrapped around herself. "B-b-but..._o-onegai..._(please...) B-Bladesinger-san...d-don't t-tell p-people about m-my singing. Th-Then they'd want me t-to sing f-for them, a-and then...and th...a-and..." She couldn't even finish it because of her fear about what she was about to say.

"I understand. We'll keep quiet," Hanna promised.

And that's about the time when things went wrong.

* * *

Suddenly, there were loud explosions and screams outside. Above us, the incessant pounding of a rainstorm was heard, but then several hard _clunks_ akin to the sound of hail followed. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and the ground trembled underneath our feet. Then Peach went up to the balcony and screamed. "Mario, come here! Quickly!" she called. So I dashed up to her, and was horrified by what I saw.

Outside, flaming meteors dropped from the sky, smashing Toad Town to bits. An earthquake erupted, creating giant fissures in the ground and shaking the houses to pieces. At the same time, a storm began, unleashing howling gales, freezing hail, and heavy rains across the town. Lightning followed, zapping all the Toads into unconsciousness. Giant plants erupted from the ground, whipping all who dared to walk nearby. Giant spears of metal fell from the sky, skewering everything. And bolts of light and shadow whirled all around. "MAMA MIA!" I shouted.

"What could be doing this?" Peach wondered as Hanna and Aeron staggered back in, confused from the earthquakes and screaming. "Hanna, do you have an idea?"

"I don't," Hanna replied, scratching her head. "But we have to make sure no one's been hurt. Also, maybe we should evacuate everyone from the castle; if it's destroyed, it'll collapse on their heads." She turned to Axel and Aeron. "Guys, can you go to Toad Town and see if no one's hurt? I need to stay and safely get everyone out of the castle."

"Okay! You can count on us!" Axel replied, running out the door. Meanwhile, the guests, panicking and trying to remain standing, were running around in confusion.

"Utter chaos; I don't think we can use the door," I muttered. "Peach, we'll go to Toad Town too! Can you handle things here?"

"I'll be fine," Peach replied reassuringly. "Now go! Help Toad Town!"

Luigi and I jumped off the balcony and hit the ground running towards Toad Town. The shaking ground was almost too much for us as we struggled to stand, and in moments we were soaked from the rain. "What the hell is this?" Luigi wondered as hailstones dropped on us. "The weather is out of whack! This definitely can't be natural!"

By now, with the incessant hammering, Toad Town was in ruins. Axel and Aeron were trying to get Toads out of a house before it collapsed. "What the heck is this? I don't even..." Axel muttered.

"Someone's messing around with the weather," Aeron replied. He raised a hand...and the wind began to die down. "Whoever did it, let's hope he doesn't do it again for the next few minutes."

Suddenly, the house began to collapse upon them! "LOOK OUT!" I shouted. Holding up a flower with circular-patterned petals which formed two rings-the outside one sky blue, and the inside one very light blue around a white core. The Ice Flower turned upwards, and light blue pollen drifted out. As the pollen landed on me, I turned transparent, and balls of light blue energy appeared in my hands. I hurled them at the collapsing house, freezing it long enough for Aeron to get the people out before it crumbled to pieces from the earthquakes. "That was a close one..." I commented.

"And here I was thinking you didn't like us," Aeron commented, attempting to soothe the feelings of the Toads whose house had just blown up.

"Hello? If you haven't noticed, lives are in danger here!" I retorted. "Come on, let's go help them!"

The next few minutes were spent by the four of us escorting the Toads out of their homes and to safe areas outside the town while the storm continued. And we had just finished getting the last few out when there was the sound of rotors. Above our heads passed multiple ships with propellers on their masts in place of sails soaring through the air. They almost seemed not to be affected at all by the insane weather! But then Luigi noticed the flag flying at the back of each ship... "Oh my god, Mario, that's BOWSER'S flag!" he shouted, pointing.

Sure enough, a black flag with the face of our very own archnemesis printed in white soared from all the airships. "Crap! Does that mean _Bowser_ was responsible for all this?" I worried. "Although I've never known him to be able to control weather, make plants spring up, cause earthquakes, use light and shadow, or create giant spears. Maybe Kamek's helping him?"

"Mario, you know that Kamek's magic wouldn't be able to do all this," Luigi reasoned. "Which means Bowser has access to a new power we've never seen before...but how did he get it? And what will he do this time?"

"The answers to those questions we can't exactly look for at this moment," Aeron reminded. "Because it looks like those airships are taking an awful lot of interest in us..." The airships had turned their sides to us...cannon barrels aimed at yours truly. "Look out!" Aeron shouted as we jumped away from the first cannonball, striking a crater in the ground and sending concrete and metal flying everywhere.

"Crap! So Bowser wants a fight, eh?" I asked, standing up. "Well, we'll GIVE them one!" I got ready to throw another ice ball...and conveniently at that moment, its effects wore off, and I became visible again. "OH COME ON!" I shouted.

"We can't battle them here!" Luigi shouted. "Let's get to Amity Square! It's a wide, open area, so we have more room to dodge them!" Sticking with Luigi's idea, the four of us ran down a street, the cannonballs following. We continued through the streets, jumping over the rubble and avoiding the cannonballs until we entered a wide, sprawling plaza. There were a few trees and benches, and a fountain was in the middle. Large buildings seemed to cage us in, but they also seemed rather far away. This was Amity Square, the largest plaza we had here.

"Good! Plenty of area!" Axel grinned, but then his grin faded when we suddenly found the airships surrounding the square. "Oh, crap."

"Well, that just sucks," Luigi muttered. "But we'll have to roll with it and take these guys on!" He looked in his pocket, and pulled out a red mushroom with white spots. "I'll use the Super Mushroom to battle them!" Biting the Mushroom, Luigi suddenly doubled in size. He ran towards one airship, dodging each attack, and jumped, punching the ship with his enlarged fist and knocking it back, as well as putting a noticeable dent in it. More punches followed, with Luigi's enhanced strength cracking the ship's hull open. "Now, Mario!" Luigi shouted.

"Yeah!" I replied, holding up a new flower. It was similar to the Ice Flower, except the rings were red and yellow. It released white pollen, and then my hat and shirt became white, and my overalls red. "Now we'll show them something!" I declared, throwing several red fireballs. They bounced off the ground, and Luigi jumped away as they crashed into the hole he made. The ship immediately began to burn, and the crew was unable to put the fire out in time before it was engulfed in flames, crashing to the ground to burn away.

"Messing around with the forces of nature...this Bowser has lots of nerve," Axel murmured to himself, eyes closed. Suddenly, the crescent moon in the sky flashed, and a beam of moonlight crashed down in front of Axel. From it emerged a sheathed katana with a silver hilt and circular guard engraved with the phases of the moon, and dark blue hilt wrap. The sheath was also a shining dark blue, and a silver sash was attached to it. Axel took the katana and pulled it out while strapping the sheath to his back. Suddenly, his eyes flashed open with an almost fiendish smile. "Bowser, if you want it so badly, I'll give you Fan Service!"

Crossing his arms in front of his face, he brought his right arm back and threw the blade into the air, as it turned into silver energy until it boomeranged back at Axel from behind in a crescent moon-like projectile. Without turning, Axel extended his right arm outwards, right in the path of the projectile. It splashed across his arm, enveloping it in silver energy. Axel whirled his right arm in front of himself, and by doing this, he caused the energy to spread to his outstretched left arm. Both of his arms now bore gauntlets comprised of hexagonal plates going back to his elbow, and up to his hand without covering any fingers. "Rule over the midnight heavens!" Axel shouted as he spun around, and stood in a battle-ready pose with his right arm in front of his chest. Twin blades of silver energy flew from the plates on his wrists, sending brilliant silver-blue light around. _"Shiruba-Getsu_ (Silver Moon)!"

"Wait, what? That sword just turned into gauntlets! How does that even work?" Luigi demanded.

"Longstorydon'tbotheraskingI'lltellyoulater!" Axel shouted, pushing off the ground with his feet-and one instant later, several airships were falling in pieces. Next, Axel whirled around and swung his arm in an arc. The puddles on the ground suddenly flew up, and the water smashed into another airship, ripping it to pieces. A cannonball flew at Axel's back, but then he spun around and slashed it in half, and the two pieces smashed into two other airships, blowing large holes in them. Before the airship that just shot at him could fire again, it suddenly fell into numerous tiny pieces. Even with this, though, there were so many airships, it was getting hard for us to keep up, and the air was practically filled with them now.

At that moment, Aeron had flown into the air (I don't know how he did it) and was trying to kick holes in the side of an airship. AND SUCCEEDING. But then a gust of wind blew him into the ground. When he got up, he had a furious look in his eyes. "Anyone who attempts to control the raging power, and then use it against me," he declared, his eyes cracking open with fury, "shall have a taste of **Hell**!" He threw out his hand, and there was a flash of lightning right in Amity Square, right on the fountain! When the glare from the lightning cleared, a silver katana with green hilt wrap was jabbed in the fountain, and sparks crackled around it dangerously. An odd spike jutted out opposite the blade. Aeron jumped to the blade and yanked it out of the fountain, causing water to burst up uncontrollably.

Aeron raised the sword so it was held horizontally in front of him, placing his hand right next to the guard on the blade. "Rule over the raging heavens!" he shouted, his hand racing across the blade as he spread his arms. As it went, a golden light flashed under his hand, while the katana became a double edged sword, and silver turned to green edges with a golden indent in the center. More golden energy coursed over the guard, changing it to a hexagon with two spikes pointing from the edges of the blade down towards the hilt. Aeron swung the sword around several times as a sort of warm-up and raised it above his head. _"Tsubasa no Rai-oh!_ (Wings of the Thunder King)"

"Wait, a lightning bolt just became a sword...WTF is this?" I wondered. Aeron didn't reply, instead pointing his blade at an airship...which promptly was split to pieces by lightning. Then Aeron bounced off the ground and swept his arms around, sending two more lightning bolts to obliterate more airships. This was followed by him swinging his arm around and causing a gale to rip through the ships, tearing them apart and smashing them into the ground. Next, Aeron raised his hand, and another tornado lifted him into the air and sent him spiraling at another ship, tearing through it.

I would have watched his moves more to make sure he wasn't as awesome as I was, but then Luigi shouted, and I turned to see a small amount of airships breaking off and heading for the castle. "It looks like Bowser's headed for Peach again!" I predicted.

"The disturbance in the weather and seismic energy seems to be greatest around the airship in the front," Axel noticed. "We'd help, but it looks like the airships around us won't allow us to go." He threw his hand out, and great waves of water swept the airships away from the quickest route to the castle. "Hurry! You won't be able to survive against so many of these things, so we'll stay here and destroy them," Axel called.

We didn't spare a second and ran down the street as fast as we could, jumping over the rubble and flames. However, by now many fissures had appeared from the earthquakes, and when we reached the castle gate, a deep chasm lay between us and the castle. In addition, the area the castle was on was somehow elevated higher than we were. "We have any Propeller Mushrooms left?" I asked Luigi.

"Let's see...Here's one," Luigi replied, holding up an orange mushroom with a yellow propeller on it and two yellow spots on either side. "Let's fly!" Luigi shouted, biting the Mushroom. A green jumpsuit appeared around him, and his shoes turned blue. A green helmet appeared on his head with a yellow propeller attached on top of it, and a green L on either side. As Luigi jumped, the propeller began to spin, allowing him to fly up high. As he went up, I jumped and grabbed onto his feet, so we both flew to the other side of the chasm. "Great! We made it!" Luigi cheered, but I was already running.

* * *

Peach was surprised to see the airships, and by the time the airship convoy had neared her castle, she was fully aware of what was going on. Then one airship flew straight up to her balcony. And on it was none other than the Koopa King, Bowser! "Hello, Peach! Have I missed anything good in the Festival?" he sneered maliciously.

"Nothing you'd be interested in," Peach shot back, a tense expression on her face. "What do you want, Bowser?"

"What do _I_ want?" Bowser snorted. He roared with laughter. "Why, I have my _own_ party going on, Peach! And you're invited...not to mention your friend Bladesinger!" Peach and Hanna were surprised-mainly because Hanna had been far out of Bowser's sight. But they had no time to question, because Bowser suddenly threw out his hand-and they were both encased in octahedron-shaped crystalline barriers.

"What the-?" Peach had never seen anything like this. The barriers oddly flashed with multiple colors, and she could feel that there were multiple energy types in them. She held out her hand to touch the barrier-and was repulsed with a flash of multicolored lights.

Hanna, meanwhile, disappeared from sight as she went into her corporeal form-or in simpler terms, became a sound wave. She tried to pass through the barrier, but then Bowser pointed, and the barrier flashed again. It was now soundproofed-Hanna couldn't break out! Hanna reappeared and raised her blades from hidden pockets and slashed at the barrier-that didn't work either. "How did he do this?" Hanna gasped.

"Hey, Bowser!" The Koopa King glanced behind him to see us fast approaching. "Stop right there!" I shouted, strapping on a suit decorated to look like a penguin. "You can't just take Peach like that!"

"Who says I can't?" Bowser snarled, turning around in full. "The powers I have in my hands at this moment come from the stars themselves! I have the power of nature at my disposal right now! And pipsqueaks like you two won't be able to defeat me!" As soon as he finished this sentence, he threw out his hand, and an earthquake rocked underneath our feet, sending us tumbling off balance. Then Bowser shot a blast of light, which we barely dodged.

"When did Bowser get the ability to shoot lasers?" Luigi wondered, rolling out of the way of a bunch of earth spikes that shot out of the ground underneath him. "I don't remember him being able to make earth spikes, either!"

"And that's just the start!" Bowser shouted as Luigi went up into the air with his Propeller suit. He held up his hand, and Luigi was suddenly frozen in ice! Then as soon as Luigi broke free from the ice, Bowser punched the air, and Luigi went flying with a gust of wind. And to finish it up, Bowser pointed his hand skyward, and a bolt of lightning crashed into Luigi, sending him crashing to the ground stunned.

"Oh yeah? Well try this!" I shouted, firing a blast of ice at him. Bowser sidestepped the attack and opened his mouth, unleashing a stream of fire that set the castle grounds ablaze in a flash. I tried to put the fires out with ice blasts, but they weren't powerful enough. These flames were too many and too hot!

"Too hot for you, Mario? Have a drink!" Bowser roared, and a torrent of water fell, dowsing out the flames and washing me towards one of the crevasses in the ground. I grabbed onto the ledge, but the rushing water was causing my grip to lessen more and more. And while the flames had been put out, there was a huge cloud of steam. I couldn't see even two feet ahead!

I tried firing an ice blast, but it only created a small block of ice that went over the edge. Another ice blast saved me; I froze a rock a few inches from the crevasse over and grabbed onto it. Lucky that rock was there; I wouldn't be able to see it otherwise. "This is _madness_!" I groaned, hoping the rock wouldn't break. And of course, at that moment, it did! I turned around and shot another ice blast, so a block of ice blocked my way and I wouldn't fall in. But I knew the block wouldn't hold on for too long...

At that moment, a gust of wind dispersed the steam, and something swooped down and grabbed me. The last of the water seeped into the crevasse and disappeared. Whoever was holding me dropped me off after the water disappeared. And now Aeron was standing on the air in front of Bowser's airship. "So you're Bowser, right? That's a scary power you've got there. And I'm here to stop you from abusing it."

"Abusing it? I'm just using it for the sake of a better world! You wouldn't understand!" Bowser shouted, raising his hand and blasting Aeron. Now he was encased in ice! "Ahahaha...huh?" Bowser was shocked when he realized that the ice was sparking, and then before his eyes, it exploded!

Aeron's sword crackled with lightning, and he leveled his sword at Bowser. "Mere ice cubes can't defeat me! _Ikazuchi Chikara_ (Thunder Force)" he shouted, firing a blast of white lightning. Bowser, however, thrust out his hand, and a giant piece of metal appeared, jabbed into the ground. The lightning jumped to it and went into the earth! But Aeron clearly wasn't finished yet. Another hand went up, and a gale roared past Bowser, sending him stumbling backward. Aeron threw out his sword again, and white fire roared across its length. "_Nagareboshi_ (Shooting Star)!" he shouted, hurling a white fireball which caused the ship to begin to burn under Bowser's feet.

Bowser began to extinguish the fire with water, but then Aeron was above him, attempting to plunge his sword into Bowser's back...but his shell was just too hard. Bowser threw his hand back, and a vine lassoed Aeron and pulled him to the ground, and set itself on fire immediately. "There will be no interference," Bowser declared firmly, and raised his hand, shooting lightning into the air.

A blue UFO revealed itself from behind the clouds immediately, and three lasers lanced down, cutting the castle out of the ground. It didn't help us much that several fissures had been made which made less cutting necessary. And one of them was going straight for Aeron! "Watch out!" I shouted, tackling him out of the way and ripping the vine around him in the process.

Aeron stood up as the castle jerked violently, only to find the ground a foot away disappearing below us. "What?" He looked up to see the UFO creating blue light which was pulling the castle up. "We're being pulled into the air...that means I'll be able to take them down easil-"

"No, wait! If you try anything, you might hurt Peach and your girlfriend!" I reasoned. Meanwhile, Luigi pulled himself up onto the ditch where the moat once was.

Bowser gave us a triumphant sneer as his airship flew beside. "Looks like you were too late, Mario! At this moment, we're going to my base with your precious Princess! Sorry you won't be there to see the show; I'll build a statue of you when I'm finished with my plan."

"You're not going to build him a statue," he suddenly heard an angry snarl. Turning around, he saw Axel, standing behind him on the same airship.

"No, I won't," Bowser admitted with a smirk. "But you won't set me to it." He ran towards Axel and brought up his fist...but Axel was already leaping over Bowser. One slash from his blades, and they cut through Bowser's shell! Bowser roared in pain and fell to kneel on one knee. Axel landed, spun around, and would've continued if there hadn't been a sniper in the UFO. A line of light suddenly shot into Axel's back as he charged towards Bowser, and he toppled in a few seconds.

Luigi zoomed over with the Propeller Suit, grabbed the unconscious Axel, and pulled him back to where we were. "Let's get back inside," Aeron decided. "We'll likely enter the stratosphere, and that can get _pretty darn cold_. Besides, it'll give us cover from Bowser's attacks." Except Bowser heard this and caused vines to cover the doorway, then blasted a burst of fire. The stairs were shattered, and the flames continued across the vines, forming a web which we couldn't pass. And if we fell on the fragments of the stairs, we'd also be burned. "So much for that idea," Aeron muttered. He began to raise his blade to try something, but then a cannonball from Bowser's ship flew, and Aeron turned around and blast it with lightning.

However, the cannonball only made things worse! A storm of cinders scattered over our heads, preventing us from moving...and it'd take too much time to get rid of them. "Crap, he thought of everything this time," I muttered. "What can we do?"

There was suddenly a scream, and Bowser roared in surprise as something flew off the balcony. To our shock, it was Terra! Why she was jumping out of the window, I won't know, but she was headed straight into space! "What the-?" Aeron stared up as Terra fell, screaming in fright. "What's she doing here?"

"She must not have evacuated with everyone else. I'll get her!" Luigi volunteered, and he flew up to where she was and pulled her back down to what was left of the steps that WASN'T flaming. "Terra, what are you still doing here?" Luigi demanded.

"I was still drying off from falling into the water, but..." Terra looked down at the disappearing ground-by now, it was impossible to see anything clearly down there, save the mountains that rose up, and they still looked tiny now. "W-w-w-what's happening?"

"Bowser is lifting us into space," Aeron replied, looking up at the airships that circled us. "We need to stop him, but I don't see how we can do it...the UFO which he's using to lift us is shielded. I don't think even I can destroy it."

"And have you forgotten about me myself?" Bowser shouted, thrusting his hand out. A giant gust of wind blew, and Terra almost fell backward into the flames-or she would have, if Aeron didn't pull her back to safety.

Terra straightened, but we all noticed the despairing look on her face. "Peach and Bladesinger-san...Bowser imprisoned them. I couldn't do anything...to save them..."

Aeron sighed and patted her on the shoulder. "It's alright. I'll go in there and free them both right n-"

"You won't be coming to the party! Get lost!" Bowser roared, and suddenly his hands crackled with orange, white, cerulean, pale green, yellow, black, silver, pink, dark blue and red energy. Before we could understand this, the blast struck and caused us all to go flying off the castle steps.

The blast had destroyed both my Penguin Suit and Luigi's Propeller Suit, and Terra had been knocked unconscious by the force of the impact. Even Aeron wasn't looking good from the blast. "Man! What's Bowser on? Steroids?" I wondered. But then I saw something else that caught my eye: The shooting star which was streaking over the Mushroom Kingdom suddenly went green, then yellow, orange, red, and finally disappeared altogether. Knowing what it _truly_ was, I felt my blood go cold. "No..." I whispered. But I couldn't think about that anymore, for suddenly I realized how hard it was getting to breath, and fainted...


	3. The Great Journey Begins

**Traveler's Log 02: The Great Journey Begins**

**Luigi (NOT the Prophet of Truth)**

* * *

Hello! It's-a me, Luigi!

Yes, I'm that green guy who Mario just keeps pushing out of the picture, and HE gets all the fame! It kinda makes me mad, but at least I don't say you live under a rock if you don't know who I am. Besides, all that goes to Mario's head, and he acts like he's emperor of all that exists, so I'm the one with smarts between us. Call it egotism? I couldn't possibly be as bad as HE is.

ANYWAY, where was Mario when we left off? Oh yes, we'd been blasted into space. Well, I regained consciousness to find we had landed on a small, spherical planet. It had a couple trees and a whole ton of grass, not to mention a circle of naturally made spires of stone. It was all very peaceful, and we appeared to be the only ones on it. Mario, Terra, Axel and Aeron were also lying on the ground, seemingly unconscious at the time. Deciding it was best to explore a bit, I got up and began to run around.

But then, I suddenly saw a creature lying on the ground, burned and cut in several places. It was peach-colored and the shape of a star. It was a Luma! The very same one that had accompanied Mario and I through our travels in the universe so long ago! I ran to the Luma and picked him up. "Luma? What're you doing here?"

The Luma suddenly regained consciousness and then flew up into the air, seeming very confused. "Who's talking? Where am I?" Then he turned and saw me. "Luigi!" he cried. He began asking me random questions about what had happened after our journey had ended.

"A-wa-wa-wa? Speak slower!" I said, now confused _and_ annoyed.

"Err…okay…"

"So, what are you doing here?" I asked, curios to know why the young Luma was so far away from his home, the Comet Observatory, as well as his mother.

The Luma turned sad. "The Comet Observatory was attacked…by…er…someone who looked like Mario…except he had grey skin and was in a totally black suit, his hat said S, and he had grey gloves."

I narrowed my eyes. _Could it be…_ "Well, what did he do?"

"We were having a ho-hum, la-di-da day, and then suddenly meteors blasted the Comet Observatory. Then Airships came and brought down a whole ton of people: Goombas, Koopas, Paratroopas, Hammer Bros., Choppahs, Boomerang Bros…there were so many of them. We tried to stop them, but the Power of the Cosmos wasn't enough to defeat ALL of them. And then the black Mario came out of a dimensional rift and blasted shadowy energy at us. It REALLY hurt getting hit by. Everyone was sent flying by the resulting explosion. I myself was knocked unconscious and launched from it, and then I woke up here."

"Wow…" _The Observatory attacked by Koopas? A clone of Mario wearing black and able to use shadow energy? Lumas scattered across the universe by the force of the explosion? That could only mean my suspicions are true, and it's…crap…it couldn't be him…_

"LUIGI! COME ON! WE HAVE TO OWN BOWSER!" yelled Mario. Apparently, he had only just woken up. "Where are you, man?" At that moment, he ran over to where I was and saw Luma. "Oh, hey Luma. WAIT…WHAT'S THE LUMA DOING HERE? WHAT THE FU-?"

"Ignore the reasons why he's here. We have to focus on finding Peach," I interrupted, but I was still worrying about the "black Mario."

"I can help you!" said Luma. "Me and my friend!" An orange Luma appeared nearby. Luma pointed at him. "Together, we can give you the Power of the Cosmos!"

"Then let's do it!" I shouted.

"We believe in you!" the orange Luma called. The two Lumas turned into energy and surged into our hats. We immediately felt a familiar power surging in our bodies.

"All right!" Mario shouted. "Now, how do we get out of here? Oh wait, maybe we have to run around those spires 2,401 times."

"Oh, no, Mario, not you too!" I shouted, thinking he had been plagued by the whole "L is Real 2401" mess and that was why he suggested running around 2,401 times.

"Here I go," said Mario, ignoring me and obnoxiously began running around a spire.

* * *

_2,401 laps later…_

Mario finished his two thousand four hundred first lap and looked around. "Uhhh…"

"Great. I knew it," I groaned, crouching and holding my head in my hands. "We're never going to get off this planet."

"Then I guess the only thing to do is panic," Mario said.

*insert instrumental version of Yakkity-Yak here (did I spell that right?)*

Mario began randomly running around while the rest of us watched him, and he just crashed into objects, tripping, and failing at pivoting. "WAAAAH! I'M GONNA DIE HERE!"

Meanwhile, Terra was waking up. I filled her in about the details about what happened while she was unconscious, and it took a bit for her to understand, but finally she did. "Ano...Luigi? How long has it been since we arrived here?" Terra asked.

"About 5 hours," I replied. Terra looked over at Mario, then groaned and facepalmed. Obviously, she realized how long we'd probably be here.

* * *

_Several hours later…_

"Okay, I'm tired of doing this now," said Mario, and he finally stopped. "But seriously, how do we get off here?" The Luma popped out of his hat and groaned a bit, dizzy. He floated around, bobbing up and down and spinning slowly around before crashing into the ground with Star Bits floating around his head.

"I don't see how running around in circles or smashing your face into the spires will help, just for the record," I told him. Then I took off my hat, and my Orange Luma popped out. "Luma, do you have an idea about what's going on here?"

The Luma closed his eyes, then flew around the planet a few times. "There's some odd power inside those spires...maybe if we use our power on them, something will happen!"

"Okay, so I should use our Star Spin on them?" I asked. Luma nodded and went back into my hat. "Let's do it!" I whirled around, but blue trails followed my fists as I smashed the rock, and then it suddenly began to glow. "Hey! Something's happening!" I noticed.

"Ano...what can I do?" Terra asked, fidgeting a little.

"You don't have a Luma, so just leave this to us," I replied, going up to another spire and spinning into it. Mario saw what I was doing and did the same, and soon all the spires were glowing. Then, in the middle of the circle, an orange star appeared! It had with spheres at each point and a cut-out in the center, where a smaller orange star that had a star-shaped hole in it floated inside. "A Launch Star! Yes!" I cheered. "Now we just get in and-"

"_Mate!_ (Wait!)" Terra interrupted. "What about Axel and Aeron? They're not conscious right now!"

I actually had to stop and think hard about that. Axel and Aeron were a lot taller than any of us, and while I could carry them with the help of the Super Mushroom, if we had to fight, it would not end well. We'd be too distracted protecting them to fight back. "I don't know," I finally replied hesitantly. "We're not strong enough to carry them, and it'd be too hard to protect them while they're still unconscious."

"Then we should leave them!" Mario interrupted. "They're just dead weight anyway."

I would have said something in response, but then I thought of something. Both Mario and I fainted because we couldn't breath in space without the help of Lumas. So how were we alive? It could only have been their doing. "It doesn't matter. We can't breath in space, but we're alive. Aeron was the only one conscious after we fainted. So that must mean...because of them, we're alive, so that's all there is to it," I insisted firmly. "Luma, can we do anything for Axel and Aeron? They're unconscious, but we're bringing them along."

"Well, I suppose we could use our power to lift them with telekinesis, but that takes a lot of energy," Luma replied. "But if you really want us to..."

"Yeah. Terra, come with me," I called as I walked towards the Launch Star. I walked into it and it began to spin steadily, levitating me into the air. Letting the Power of the Cosmos course through my body, I spun in a circle, causing the Launch Star to spin with me and the inner portion of the Launch Star pulled back as I spun. Then it rocketed forward, blasting me into space. Just before I started flying, I grabbed Terra so she followed behind me.

For a moment, I didn't pay attention to my surroundings. I simply thought of how I was heading towards danger, how I had to save Peach, how I was-well, it was pretty random. ANYWAY, I landed on a planet with many holes in it, as well as a swirling black hole. Boy, it brought back memories. (Awful, awful memories.) Mario followed soon after, his Luma suspending Aeron in midair with his power. Axel was being held by mine.

"All right!" I shouted. "Now what do we do-Hey! There are GOOMBAS here!" Sure enough, brown creatures resembling mushrooms with legs were walking around.

"Well, you know what to do, Luigi!" Mario shouted. Together, we jumped and chain-stomped all the Goombas (aka: we land on one, spring off it, land on another, spring off it, and then rinse and repeat). In a matter of seconds, we had slammed ALL the Goombas into the ground. "Ha! Goombas are easy!" Mario bragged, football tackling a Goomba that was outside the squad. He suddenly bumped into another one. "OOF! What the heck…" He fainted.

"Well that was a fail," I muttered to myself. Almost immediately, from the sky dropped several more. "What? More? No!" I groaned.

"Ano...what should I do?" Terra asked, backing away.

"Stay back! You don't have any skill fighting!" I replied, punching a Goomba into the black hole.

* * *

_Ten thousand Goombas later…_

"Okay, all the Goombas are gone! Now what?" I said.

"We panic?" Mario asked. (Yes, he woke up.) I clobbered him in the head for the stupid suggestion. At that moment, a Launch Star appeared. "Yay! Now I can get out of here!" Mario cheered. I clobbered him again to remind him that I was around.

We launched ourselves off the planet to a new one with several Chomps rolling around on it. There were five yellow isosceles triangles with spheres on their sharpest point floating around. Knowing those would form a Launch Star when combined, and also knowing what we were supposed to do, I raced to one and snatched it up. But then a Chomp came rolling towards me. "Crap!" I shouted.

A hand reached up and yanked me backward. "Careful, Luigi!" Terra chided as the Chomp rolled past. "You could have been hurt badly by that!"

Mario jumped over a Chomp, managed to land on top of it without getting hurt by it, and then bounded off again, catching another Launch Star Piece. Then suddenly a Chomp rolled towards him. I tackled him out of the way, then grabbed a third out of the way of another Chomp. Mario stood up again, then jumped three times over yet another Chomp, allowing himself to jump up high on his third. When he was at the peak of the third he spun, allowing him to jump even higher. Then he landed on a floating platform and grabbed a fourth Launch Star Piece. "W00TAGE!"

"Look! There's the last one," Terra called, pointing. Sure enough, there was one…which was in the path of practically all the Chomps, and they were closing in on it.

"Er...yeah, this one's gonna be a pain," I muttered. But then I heard a groan, and turned to see Axel standing up.

"Aw, geez...stupid snipers. They always throw a wrench into my plans..." he muttered, rubbing the area on the back of his neck where it had hit. Strangely, his ridiculously fancy outfit was totally unharmed by the sniper shot which knocked him out earlier. Then he looked up and got confused. "Huh? Hey, this isn't the Mushroom Kingdom. Last I remember, we were lifted off into space...is this that Bowser dude's lair?"

"No, we got launched into space. I don't know where we are," I replied, shrugging. "But...I don't know if we'll get out. They're headed for our ticket out." I pointed at the Chomps, and the Star Piece they were closing in on. "We can't get there in time..."

"I could definitely do it," Axel replied, unsheathing his sword and getting ready to sprint.

"You'll never make it," I said.

"Try me," replied Axel, and suddenly he was holding the last Launch Star Piece and all the Chomps were in pieces. "_Way_ too easy," Axel bragged, tossing it to me. Amazed by Axel's speed, I put the five together and they spun into energy, combining to form a Launch Star.

We launched ourselves through it, and ended up on a planet that was saucer-shaped. And on it was…a very not-happy looking creature. It was bipedal, but for some reason was on all fours. Its fingers were clawed, and it had a very menacing look. Oh yes, and there were MANY, MANY sharp spikes on its back.

"**I AM GIGANTUS!"** bellowed the giant. **"WHAT RIGHT DO YOU HAVE TO STEP ON MY LAND?"**

"We never stepped on it!" Mario said. "We just…flew on it! And what right do YOU have to yell at me like that?"

"**ALL BEINGS MUST BOW DOWN TO GIGANTUS!"** bellowed the giant. **"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO STEP ON MY LAND! I WILL DESTROY YOU!"**

"Should we run?" Axel asked, although the way he was raising his sword clearly showed he wasn't planning on running.

"There's nowhere to run _to_," I pointed out. "We're going to have to fight him!"

* * *

**Boss: Gigantus**

Gigantus swiped at us with his claws. Axel raised his sword to parry one attack, but the force sent him skidding. Next, he slammed his fist down on the ground, causing a rippling wave of earth towards me. I jumped out of the way instinctively. Then he charged towards Mario in a headbutt.

"HUAL!" Mario shouted in pain as he went flying about 10 meters. Gigantus swiped at him for extra damage before jumping at Axel and using the same headbutt. Axel stood firm and raised his sword to block the headbutt. But the ground began to split beneath his feet from the force. Axel's brow furrowed, and he pushed back harder. But the ground couldn't take the stress, and soon gave way, and Axel was drove into the ground.

"Get…off…of…ME!" Axel hollered, smashing Gigantus away. The giant monster landed on his backside, and wriggled around, trying to get up. Mario immediately ran towards the colossus and ground-pounded his belly. Gigantus hollered in pain and then jumped back up, throwing Mario off.

Gigantus was clearly pretty angry. He charged Mario, but Mario dodged and tried to kick him. Big mistake. "OWWWWW!" Mario shouted, clutching his foot. Remember what I said about the spikes? I rolled my eyes at his stupidity.

He slammed his claws into the ground and sent another earth attack at me. I prepared to dodge, but then thought better of it, and spun into the attack, sending it back at Gigantus, smashing him in the face. He fell on his back, and I long-jumped over to him and ground-pounded him.

Gigantus clearly had had enough and he charged towards us. We dodged, but then we realized who he was heading for.

"TERRA!" Mario and I screamed at the same time, as Gigantus zoomed towards our friend at the same time. Terra herself, looked _very _terrified. But at that moment, Aeron's eye cracked open...

**BLAM!**

Gigantus was sent flying. Terra looked up, and saw Aeron standing in front of her, holding his sword with both hands. "I'm surprised. You don't seem to be able to handled this guy without my help."

Gigantus jumped up with a look of rage in his eyes. **"HOW DARE YOU! YOU'LL PAY THE PRICE FOR RAISING A SWORD TO ME!"**

"I don't follow a tyrant's rules," Aeron replied flatly. Gigantus, roaring with rage, charged him again. Aeron dodged and pulled Terra out of the way, then jammed his sword into the ground and raised his hand, a shimmering ice blue sphere forming from three streaks of energy. "_Hama Hyoketsu!"_ he shouted, and the sphere flashed with a silver nimbus before flying at Gigantus. A glacier appeared around the giant in seconds.

Gigantus burst out with an angry snarl. But Axel was already making his move, silver energy around his hand. "_Tsukiren!_ (Moon ripple)" He punched, and a wave of energy burst out, spreading out as it went further. Axel stopped his hand an inch away from Gigantus' spikes, knocking him over. Mario jumped on top of Gigantus' belly, and ground-pounded it. Gigantus howled, then suddenly went lifeless and exploded.

When the smoke cleared, we were shocked to see what emerged. It was a Power Star! I was astounded. What did this mean? Was Bowser planning to take over the universe? Had the Stars been scattered across the universe again? What was going to happen next? The answers would all be discovered later. The last question, however, was answered first: I would be treated to my brother's egotism.

"W00T! OWNAGE BY MARIO!" shouted Mario. "ALL BOW DOWN TO MARIO! MARIO DEMAND SPAGHETTI!"

"Someone shoot him quick," Aeron muttered in disgust as he walked up to the Star with the rest of us.

**WE GOT A STAR!**


	4. The Starship Sails

**More updates. More lies. Whoop de doo.**

**Sorry, we won't be exploring new galaxies today due to gravity and lack of creativity on my part. SHAME ON ME!**

**Fanfiction users! There's a poll on my profile regarding this fanfic. Could you go and answer it? Thanks.**

**By the way, people. Would you be so kind as to suggest ideas for galaxies? If so, please review this story. Remember that you can review even if you aren't a Fanfiction user, because I enabled the anonymous review. Thanks again.**

**Oh, and I hope you had a happy holiday, everyone.

* * *

**

"Mama! Can you continue reading us that story?"

"Of course, my dear."

Rosalina picked up _A Tale of Shining Stars_, which she had put on her chair, and sat down. "Are you all ready? Then, let us begin!"

She opened the book to a pale blue bookmark that she had put in the book before closing it last time. And then she began to read.

* * *

**We resided on a faceship during our journey.**

**I'm not kidding. We seriously DID spend our time on a faceship. It was where we rested, where we goofed off, and most importantly, what carried us through the universe.**

**Wondering what a faceship is? You'll find out soon.**

**-Axel Nightblazer**

**

* * *

**

**Traveler's Log 03: The Starship Sails**

**Terra**

**

* * *

**

Err…hi. I'm Terra…

I've never written one of these before. Sorry you have to put up with my horrible writing…I can see crows flying by my window while I'm writing this…

Well, we were pulled through space by the Star, which seemed to be soaring to its home. We landed on a strange Planetoid that was shaped like Mario's head, except it had a smokestack, there was a raised platform with a wheel and holographic screen and a compass rose on top of it, and so on. And, it looked like Mario's head had been hit by meteors.

No, wait, that actually was the case.

I'm not kidding. Seriously. Big rocks had slammed into it, and there were craters.

We landed and found a whole ton of Lumas, along with a big fat purple one with pants.

"What-? You're back? I men, hey! YOU'RE BACK!" shouted the big purple guy.

"Oh, hey Lubba," said Mario. "Wait…how the heck did we get here?"

"Well, you came soaring in with this Star," said Lubba, pointing at the Star.

"Yeah, we came soaring in with this Star," said Mario. I think I saw a crow fly by his head, which is something that happens in Japanese stuff when someone says something obvious/stupid.

"THAT'S JUST WHAT I SAID!" shouted Lubba.

"Well, what happened?" Mario asked. "Why did you let meteors crash into my handsome face?"

"WHY IS IT MY FAULT?" shouted Lubba, seeming rather frustrated. "Some black version of you attacked it with meteors, along with Airships carrying Goombas, Koopas, Paratroopas, Choppahs, Fuzzies, Hammer Bros., Boomerang Bros., and so on. It was just too much."

I don't know why, but Luigi seemed kind of troubled by this. I think I'll talk to him about that later.

"Well, what were they after?" I asked.

"They took all of our Stars," said Lubba. "That's pretty much it. And now, this Starship is not going anywhere…but then…we enter this Power Star!" He held up the Star. "With this, we can restore the ship!"

The Star turned into energy, and then coursed into the ship. I watched, amazed as the starship was restored to its former glory.

"We don't have too much power," Lubba said, "but this should keep us going for a bit."

"Um…" I said. "How long is 'a bit' exactly?"

"24 hours!" said Lubba cheerfully. A bit too cheerfully.

*insert record scratch here*

Axel stared at him. "WHAT."

"You heard me! 24 hours!" said Lubba.

"YOU HAVE _GOT_ TO BE KIDDING ME!" Axel shouted.

"Okay, that was a joke. But…WE STILL NEED MORE STARS TO GET MOVING!" Lubba shouted. "Without enough Stars, we can't escape the field of gravity of that galaxy! So we're going to need more Stars!"

"Well," Mario said, heading up to the wheel. "I guess that means we're going to have to go back to…uh…"

"Oh, that would be Terra-Terror Galaxy," said Lubba.

"Right," Mario said. "Lubba, activate the Launch Star."

I was surprised. Mario was acting like a really good commander, and not just someone who liked doing that.

Mario put his hands on the wheel. Immediately, a holographic map appeared above the wheel. It showed where we were in the universe: in some place called "The Region of Earth". The galaxy we had been to just a couple moments ago was floating right next to the Starship…no, wait, the Starship was floating next to the galaxy…oh my god, I think I see crows flying past the window…

A HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

MARIO! GET OUT OF HERE!

Okay, sorry. Anyway, Mario hit the galaxy on the map, and it zoomed in on that galaxy. Immediately, some orange star appeared. There were spheres on the ends, and a star shape was cut out of the center.

Mario went to the star, and then spun around in it, causing the star to quickly rotate and an inner portion to pull back. Then it shot forward, sending Mario flying away. Luigi jumped in and repeated what Mario did. Then Axel and Aeron also jumped in and spun, and you know the rest.

I didn't know what to do. I'd never seen one of these before.

"Umm…" That was the best thing I could say? I can't believe myself.

"Just hop in and…" Lubba began.

"Err…didn't you have to do something special to operate that?" I blurted.

"Well, yeah…" Lubba said. "You have to have the Power of the Cosmos to use it, I think."

"Great…" I didn't know what to do at that time.

"No worries!" said a brown Luma. "I can give you the power!" And with that, he turned into energy and zoomed into my bracelet. Suddenly, I felt this amazing feeling. It was like someone had struck me with a lightning bolt and filled me with power. I felt the energy coursing through my body. And then suddenly I knew what to do.

I jumped into the Launch Star and let myself levitate into it, as the energy flowed through my body. Then I whirled in a circle, and was propelled through the cosmos towards the galaxy below.

Soon, I landed on a small, spherical planet that…um…oh god, can I remember this clearly…had a couple trees and was mostly covered by grass, and had some spires of stone. And between those spires was another orange star. All in all, it seemed like a rather serene setting. Okay. There we go.

Except there was no one there. I wondered what was going on.

I headed to the Launch Star, and propelled myself to the next planet, which was full of holes, and there was a swirling sphere underneath it. Not to mention a whole ton of Goombas.

I gritted my teeth. _Oh my god, I can't do this. That's a black hole down there. And there are so many holes in this planet. And so many Goombas. I can't do this._

I didn't know what to do. But then I noticed the Launch Star at the back, and I ran to it. I blasted to the next one, which had Chomps rolling around it. It was flat, save for a couple raised towers.

I saw a Launch Star nearby on one of the pillars. Fortunately, I've been pretty good with rock climbing. Climbing up the pillar, I launched myself to the next planet…and found myself on the planet where I had woken up to be attacked by that giant thing.

There was absolutely nothing here.

I ran around for a bit, but couldn't find anything.

I panicked. What was I going to do now?

Then something went wrong.

Suddenly, I heard "FALCON PUNCH!" and everything went spinning. I fell to the ground instantly. The attacker just bounded off, holding something shining. I think he jumped off the edge and something came up and caught him. But I'll never know, because everything blacked out at that point.

I don't know why, but he looked a lot like Mario.

* * *

Later, I felt myself being gently shaken awake. I cracked my eyes open and saw Axel, Aeron, Mario and Luigi standing above me.

"What were you doing here?"Axel asked.

"I just followed the Lau…" My head suddenly throbbed like crazy. I remembered that that guy who hit me hit HARD…in the head. I immediately groaned and clutched my head.

Aeron held his hand over my head and then some green glow emitted from his hand. Immediately, my head felt a lot better. "Okay. Tell us what happened."

I sat up and told them about the Luma and my bracelet, about my journey through the galaxy, and about the mysterious guy who attacked me.

Luigi got that troubled look again when I mentioned the Mario thing. I asked him about that.

"Eh…um…that's something I don't really want to talk about…" Luigi said.

"But tell us," said Mario. "Who's this guy stealing my face and wearing black?"

Luigi looked away. "He…"

"ANYWAY, Terra, I'm sorry to break this to you, but you did everything we did LAST TIME we went to this galaxy," said Axel.

"Oh…" I looked down, embarrassed.

"Don't worry, it could happen to anyone. We never said anything about what we did while you were unconscious," said Axel serenely.

I got up. "So…what happened with you?" I noticed that the pain in my head was completely gone now.

"Well…" Axel recounted what he and the others had done. They had found a warp pipe on the planet with the spires and used it to get to a weird dimension inside the planet, where they had ran through shifting sands and quicksand and Thwomps to get to another warp pipe. Then they had used it to get to an area that was like the planet I had been to before with the Goomba armies, except it was flat. There, they had used Bomb-ombs to break open a Launch Star. And finally, they had arrived at a planet that was like a Sling Star, some flat hollowed-out star shape that propelled you a short distance. But back to the planet. There were cylinderical objects at each end of the planet's points. And on those cylinders were Pull Stars.

But then things went wrong. The black Mario swiped the star and tried to get away, and Axel and co. had chased after him, but he got away. They found me shortly afterwards.

"Oh…" I felt disheartened. The black Mario had outwitted all of us.

"Don't feel bad," said Axel. "We'll use…THE TELEPORTER!"

*insert record scratch here*

"Err...what?" I asked. "Axel, there isn't a teleporter around here."

"It's on the _other_ side of the planet! =D" said Axel.

So, we found a way to get to the other side, and found the Teleporter. It was a blue and yellow pad, and emitting strange yellow energy.

"Okay, use this like you use a Launch Star," said Luigi.

So I went up and stood on the Teleporter let the Power of the Cosmos course through me, and whirled, and the Teleporter whisked me to an area with a cannon and a bunch of Goombas.

Mario whisked into the area, saw the cannon, dodged the Goombas, and jumped in. "I know what to do! Just let me do everything!"

Mario aimed the cannon, and we saw what he was aiming for: an Airship.

The black Mario was on top, holding up the Star and laughing about how he got it. He sounded like some slick New Yorker, complete with a cool but sinister side.

He was so busy laughing, he didn't see Mario rocketing towards him.

"Ha ha ha! I got the Star-"

**SHOOOM!**

"WHOA WHOA WHOA WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED?" the black Mario shouted. He watched Mario rocket off. "Argh! It's that Mario!" he growled. "Using the Star, I'll-" He suddenly looked down at his hands. "WHAT? WHERE THE *bleep* DID MY STAR GO?"

"HA HA! EAT MY DUST, LOSER!" laughed Mario. "THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR STEALING MY AWESOME FACE!"

Immediately, we were suddenly whisked back to the Teleporter, which was now black and it wasn't emitting energy.

Mario slammed into the ground next to us. "Got the Star!" he crowed. "Yes! I'm so smart! Ha ha!"

"There he goes again," Luigi muttered.

**WE GOT A STAR!**

* * *

The Star pulled us back to Starship Mario. Lubba was waiting for us. "So, you got the Star, huh?" he asked cheerfully.

"Yep!" Mario said.

Lubba converted the Star into energy, and it blasted into the Ship. Immediately, the engines began bursting with new energy.

"Ready?" Mario asked, stepping up to the wheel.

"Yep!" we all said.

"Then…" Mario stepped up to the wheel. "Here we go! Starship Mario, Launch!"

The engines came to life, and blasted Starship Mario into the cosmos.

And as we zoomed forward, I knew this would be the ride of my life.

* * *

**Random Bonus Story! =D**

**The Button**

* * *

"Okay, so to go to other galaxies, stand on the pressure plate in front of the wheel, which will activate the engines. Use the wheel to steer Starship Mario to any galaxy you wish to go to. Then when you're in orbit, tap the galaxy to activate the Launch Star and propel yourself there…" Luigi frowned and looked up from the instructions manual. "All stuff we know." He looked back at the Starship Mario Manual. "Hmm…"

"Hey, what does this button do?" Mario wondered.

"The button on the railing is the Low G switch. If you press it, the gravity of Starship Mario will immediately decrease…" Luigi looked up. "WAIT, MARIO, STOP!"

"Button press! =D" Mario shouted cheerfully, and he hit the button.

*insert Low Gravity sounds here*

Mario began floating into the air. "WHAT THE HECK?" he shouted.

"YOU IDIOT!" Luigi hollered as he floated up, up, up…

"Wheee!" Axel shouted, floating around in random directions.

"Zzzz…" Aeron snored, unaware of the Low G conditions around him.

"I don't like this," Terra complained, blushing and floating upside down. She was pressing her skirt against her knees. "My skirt's going up…no wait, down…no wait, up…no wait, down…oh, just…no one look at me…"

"Mario, you hit the Low G switch," said Lubba.

"But Lubba, you're not moving," Mario pointed out.

"Lumas are unaffected by gravity anyway," Lubba said.

"W00T!" Axel shouted, jetting through the air.

"BAD MARIO!" shouted Luigi. He made a swipe at the button to turn off the Low G conditions, but missed.

"Don't be so boring, Luigi!" Mario shouted. "Look! I can moon jump!" He floated to the ground, turned himself upright, and bounded off, going high into the air.

"Yeah?" Luigi asked, getting competitive. "Well, you ain't the only one who can moon jump!" He bounded off the ground, reaching Mario's jumping height.

"I bet I can jump higher than you!" Mario shouted, bounding even higher.

"I've had enough of this!" Terra declared angrily, and she drew back her fist and rammed the button with all her might.

**CRUNCH!**

Lubba gaped.

"Wheee-huh?" Axel wondered, as he had stopped moving. And he was right above Luigi.

"Wait, what?" Mario wondered.

"OMG!" Luigi shouted.

"Zzzzsnore…huh?" Aeron wondered, waking up.

"Ummm…oops…" Terra muttered.

Immediately, everyone went shooting in random directions.

"CRAAAAAAAAP!" Mario shouted, as he went flying out into space.

"Uh oh," said Axel, as he began to shoot downwards. Towards Luigi.

**CRASH!**

"WAAAH-OOF!" Terra shouted, slamming into the smokestack.

"WHAT THE HECK?" Aeron shouted, as he went randomly whirling around Starship Mario.

"AaAaAaAaA!" Lubba shouted, getting flung around. He caught onto a railing to steady himself, but only got spun around the railing in circles.

"Agh!" Aeron stopped himself from getting affected by Low G…with magic. "We need to fix this! Lubba, where are the instructions?"

"I tHiNk MaRiO mAdE oFf WiTh ThEm!"

"DANG YOU, MARIO!" Aeron hollered, and jetted through space after Mario.

Axel and Luigi went flying, and the instructions dropped from _Luigi's_ hands.

Lubba gaped. "AeRoN!"

**Moral:**

**Be careful what buttons you press. =D**


	5. Rockin' and Rollin'

**I know the truth now.**

**Mario is a rock-headed idiot.**

**Why am I saying this?**

**Because he becomes a rock.**

* * *

**Traveler's Log 04: Rockin' and Rollin'**

**Axel**

* * *

Hi, everybody, I'm Axel Nightblazer, nice to meet you all. I…

Boy, I'm tired. Screw this.

**CUT!**

* * *

_Take two._

Hi, everybody, I'm Axel Nightblazer, nice to meet you all. I decided to write the log this time. I hope you will all enjoy.

ANYWAY, using our new star, we went to another Galaxy.

"More power!" Mario shouted. "Give her more Stars!"

"I'm giving her all she's got, Captain!" shouted Lubba frantically.

"Why are you so rushed?" Aeron asked.

"Because I wanna punch Bowser in the face!" Mario replied.

_What an idiot,_ I thought. _Bowser's several feet taller than you. How can you possibly hit him in the face when you have to get past his claws, too?_

"So, it appears our next destination is called The Galaxy of No Return," said Luigi. "Wait, wah-"

"Wait, The Galaxy of _what now_?" Terra shouted, staring at the map.

"BLBLBLBLBBLEAH! Wow, that was odd. Okay, I meant the Rolling Rock Rolling Rolling Rolling…oh I'll just get to the point…Rolling Galaxy."

"Phew!" Terra sighed in relief. "I wouldn't want to go to a place that was called The Galaxy of No Return."

"Well, we're almost there," I said. "Wonder what we'll be facing there?"

"We're here!" Mario shouted, and suddenly stopped the Starship in orbit of the galaxy.

"WAH!" Terra shouted, and she was pitched forward, causing her to crash into me and we fell over the railing onto the grass.

"Oh…That hurt…" Terra groaned.

"THAT'S MY LINE!" I shouted.

I got up and ran towards Mario.

"What?" Mario asked.

"MARIO…YOU LITTLE (explicative removed)! YOU SON OF A (explicative removed)! I AM GOING TO RIP OFF YOUR (explicative removed) AND SHOVE IT DOWN YOUR (explicative removed) WITH (explicative removed) SO THEN YOU HAVE TO (explicative removed) SIDEWAYS!"

…

"(explicative removed)!"

Everyone stared at me, Terra's eyes especially wide.

"W-w-was t-t-that your...d-d-dark side, Axel?" asked Terra nervously.

"No, it's how he always is," said Aeron. "And if I am wrong, then God strike me-"

**BOOOOOOM!**

A lightning bolt struck Aeron. Everyone gaped (except for me, because I saw what was coming).

Suddenly, Aeron came out of our living quarters. "Hey, cool, it works!"

Everyone gaped at that. "WHAT THE HECK?" Luigi shouted.

"Wow, illusions are so easy to trick people with," said Aeron.

"Aeron, you've been overusing that joke," I said. "It's not funny anymore."

"Well that's coming from someone whose jokes are always horrible," said Aeron.

"WHAT?"

"WHAT!"

Basically, Aeron and I began brawling.

* * *

_One epicless brawl later…_

Aeron and I ended up severely lacerating each other with our Zanpaku-to.

…

"…you done?" asked Luigi.

"Yeah," I said.

"_Nani mo iwanai de mo… konna kimochi ga…  
Kimi no mune ni tsutawareba ii no ni…_

_Sukoshizutsu machi ha…iro wo kaeru kedo…  
Hora… omoide ga mata hitotsu fueta…"_

Everyone looked at the source of the soft, lilting singing. They saw Terra singing and gazing out into the maroon depths of space and the stars and planets far out into the Region of Earth.

Terra quickly realized everyone was staring at her. She blushed, quickly clamped her mouth shut and covered it.

"Was that you singing?" Aeron asked, although he obviously knew the answer.

Terra quickly shook her head.

"What song was that, anyway?" asked Luigi.

"I think it was _Sore ga, Ai Deshou,_" I said. (Please don't ask how I know that. And don't ask me for a translation. If you want one, go look it up yourself.)

"Well, the singing sounded pretty good," said Lubba. "Now, are you going to go or are we just gonna sit here getting older?"

"All right! Let's-a go!" Mario shouted, jumping into the Launch Star and blasting away to the Rolling Rock Galaxy. "WAHOO!"

"Hey, wait up!" shouted Luigi, jumping into the Launch Star and blasting after his brother.

"Sheesh…" I muttered, racing after them.

I raced through the purple-maroon atmosphere and past all the stars, and saw Mario and Luigi already there. I landed next to them to find we had landed on an earthen, well-worn planet that was circular, with rectangular platforms jutting out at places. There were many giant purple crystals around, and we found ourselves faced with…Octoombas?

"Um…hi?" Mario said.

Immediately, he was greeted with a storm of rocks.

"OW!" Mario shouted, getting smashed by the rocks. "Now I must hold a grudge against you!" He dashed towards the Octoombas, only to get mashed by more rocks.

"Well, things could be bad," I said, drawing my Zanpaku-to.

The Octoombas immediately launched another storm of rocks. Luigi began to deflect them with his spin, but he couldn't get all of them. "AAAH!" he shouted, getting nailed by several rocks.

More rocks came towards me. But I knew what to do.

"Rule over the midnight heavens…Shiruba-Getsu (Silver Moon)!" I shouted.

Immediately, my sword blazed into silver energy and whirled around my forearms, peeling away to reveal blue gauntlets that glowed with pale silver light. Immediately, I summoned silvery blue blades from them and before you could even blink, my arms flew in front of me.

And all the rocks were diced into tiny pieces.

The Octoombas were surprised, but got ready to attack again. Before they could, however, I raced towards the Octoombas.

Before they could shoot rocks, I had blasted past them to their center, and then I whirled, cutting through them with ease with my energy blades. By whirling, I cut them all down easily. It's easy to cut with Shiruba-Getsu, because the reishi particles that make up the blade vibrate at over 5 million cycles per second.

There were five or six left at that point.

One sent a rock flying at me. I easily cut it, and the halves slammed past me to strike two other Octoombas. Then I raced forward and cut that one in half.

Three left.

I just made a fist and extended it in their direction.

The Octoombas prepared rocks.

"Tsukiren (Moon's ripple)," I said.

The blade disappeared, and my gauntlet blasted silver energy in a wide wave in front of me, mowing down the Octoombas and their rocks.

Aeron landed. "Okay, now let's g-" He stared at all the Star Bits bouncing around-all that remained of the Octoombas. "Did I miss the action?" he asked, disappointed.

"Yes," I said.

"Darn it," Aeron said, frustrated.

Terra arrived last. "Um…okay, where do we go now?"

Mario got up. "Uhg…" he groaned. "I'm okay."

Luigi got up as well. "Well, that sucked. Let's keep going."

"Sure, but where?" Aeron asked.

"Um…" Mario said.

*insert wah-wah horn here*

I looked around. "There's _gotta _be something around here that can help us."

"Well, maybe we break those crystals," said Mario. He punched one. "AUGH! My hand!" He stepped back, clutching his hand.

"Genius," Luigi said sarcastically.

"Hey, why is there a shadow above us?" Terra asked.

We all looked up to see a Whomp jumping down towards us. And we knew exactly what to do.

"RUN AND HIDE!" Mario shouted.

"I RUN!" Luigi shouted.

"AAAAAAAH!" Terra screamed.

Everyone scattered as the Whomp smashed his colossal face into the ground. Immediately, Mario jumped onto his back and ground pounded it, destroying the Whomp and causing it to erupt into Star Bits.

"Ha!" said Mario. "Take that, Concrete thingy!"

"That wasn't very nice, you know," Aeron said.

"Hey, what's that?" I asked, suddenly noticing something appearing. And it was…um…well…a rock. That looked suspiciously like a mushroom. With eyes at the bottom.

"Hey, it's a mushroom!" Mario shouted, and grabbed it. He prepared to take a bite out of it.

Terra gasped in shock.

"YOU IDIOT!" I shouted. Seriously, who eats rocks? Even if they look like mushrooms.

Then something weird happened.

Mario bit the rock mushroom, and suddenly his body transformed. His torso, legs, and hat were all covered with rocks.

"What the-?" Aeron said.

"That was a Rock Mushroom," Luigi explained. "By eating it, Mario-"

Mario suddenly whirled, and rocks came together around his body. The Mario Rock zoomed towards one of the big purple crystals, and crashed into it.

The crystal suffered many, many, many internal cracks.

Another Rock Mushroom appeared, and Luigi took it this time. He also became a rock and crashed into the crystal, destroying it outright. A Launch Star was freed from the crystal.

"Wow, that was easy," said Mario, and he jumped into the Launch Star. Suddenly, his rock armor faded as he got into the Launch Star.

"What the heck?" I asked. "It just disappeared."

"Oh, don't you know?" Luigi asked. "The Rock Mushroom's effects are disrupted when you enter a Launch Star.

We followed him to find ourselves on a planet that was similar, but there weren't any more giant purple crystals; instead, I saw a ramp leading off into space and floating out in space was an area with numerous floating platforms, bands, and ramps. And somewhere in there, I saw…a large white coin with gold rims and a golden Star with a streaming tail emblazoned on it.

"What is…that?" I wondered.

"We'll just have to find out," said Luigi. "I feel like I've seen it before, though…"

"Hm. Same here!" Mario said. "But it's like it slipped from my memory!"

"So, um, do we try and get it?" Terra asked.

"Certainly," said Luigi. He grabbed a Rock Mushroom and raced towards the ramp. He zoomed off of it, and sharply turned on a corner of the platform He zinged off a rubber band and up a ramp, and landed on another platform. He bounced off a rubber band to race down a zigzagging path with bands on all the corners. Then suddenly, it went 45 degrees to the right. Luigi turned quickly, but not enough. He raced on the edge of the platform.

Terra gasped and shut her eyes, not daring to look.

"LOOK OUT!" Aeron shouted.

Suddenly, Luigi jumped into the air, spinning. He landed on a platform with a hole in the center and jumped again.

And he sailed through the air straight into the coin.

Immediately, the coin burst into golden sparkles that zinged off in every direction.

I stared. "FFFUUUUU-"

***CENSORED!*-Ben**

HEY! BEN! WHAT THE _H(bleep)_ ARE YOU DOING HERE?

Ben:…Making a cameo! =D

**CUT!**

Ben: What? No! No! It's cameo time!

* * *

_Take three._

I stared. "FFFUUUUU-"

Aeron hit me in the stomach. "No profanities around children," he said, gesturing towards Terra.

Terra was staring at me wide-eyed, but said nothing.

I was still pretty mad, though. The coin disappeared! So Luigi went out there for nothing, right?

Luigi raced up a ramp and landed on the platform next to us, where he crashed into a large rock next to us and was knocked out of the boulder.

"What happened to the coin?" Terra asked.

"I think I know what it is now," said Luigi. "It's a Comet Medal."

"What?" said Aeron.

"Oh yeah, a Comet Medal!" said Mario. "Now I remember!"

"Huh?" I asked, obviously not getting it.

Some Smartboard appeared randomly and Luigi pulled out a wand or something (the things teachers use to point at stuff). A picture of the Comet Medal appeared on the Smartboard.

"A Comet Medal is a special medallion that-"

Terra's hand shot up.

"Yes, Terra?" said Luigi, pointing the wand at her.

"Um…If it's a medallion, why is it so big?" Terra asked.

…

"You know, I have no idea," said Luigi. "Anyways, along with the lesson.

"Comet Medals, once claimed, release energy into the galaxy that attracts a comet that will change its properties." Luigi pulled up an image of a soaring rainbow colored comet. "We call them Prankster Comets. They can cause Stars to appear in the galaxy, but change the galaxy in several ways, such as causing the person trying to get the Star to teleport back to where he came from within a certain interval of time until he reached the Star within the time limit. Or causing the person's energies to become extremely limited, so if they got hurt in any way, it would be all over. Or scattering purple coins all over the place and forcing you to find 100 of them to get a Star. And so on and so forth."

"Okay," I said. "Anyways, along with the action." I shoved the Smartboard off somewhere, where it smashed through several Octoombas before hitting a large rock and smashing it to pieces.

Immediately, the entire army of 80 Octoombas turned towards us.

"Oh…crap?" Mario said.

The Octoombas sent a storm of rocks our way.

Aeron pointed his sword at them calmly. "Nice pebbles. Let's see you deal with this."

Aeron's sword suddenly released numerous lightning bolts at the rocks, zapping them all out of the air.

"Way too easy," Aeron said.

Mario ran towards a group of Octoombas and spun several away. Luigi ran to another group and did the same.

And then a whole bunch of Octoombas charged us.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Mario shouted as we got mowed down by a colossal wave of Octoombas.

Aeron was annoyed thoroughly for getting hit by Octoombas. He decided to set that right.

"Rule over the raging heavens…" he said, bringing his sword to his hip and placing his hand on the blade's base.

The Octoombas stared.

"Tsubasa no Rai-oh (Wings of the Thunder King)!" Aeron shouted.

Immediately, Aeron whipped his hand along the blade, and the sword changed into a double-edged sword with emerald green edges and a gold indent along the length of the blade. The guard also changed, turning into an elongated hexagon at the base of the blade with twin spikes pointing down the length of the blade to the sides, below the area where each edge ends.

Aeron rushed towards the Octoombas and with one swift stroke, he sent a roaring wave of ice at them. The Octoombas didn't stand a chance. They were utterly destroyed by the attack.

More Octoombas showed up to attack. They sent rocks flying at Aeron.

Aeron didn't even flinch. He just jumped towards the rocks, and his arm suddenly became a blur.

He landed behind the Octoombas, and then it happened.

One moment, they were just rocks the size of a Rock Mushroom, the next, a cascade of clay-sized pieces of rock was in their place.

All the ro-well, more like dust-crashed down onto a boulder, destroying it and sending chunks of rock flying, which all conveniently hit the Octoombas.

Everyone stared.

"How did he-?" Luigi asked. "That makes no sense!"

"Luigi," said Mario. "I already told you a million times. Making sense does not exist anymore."

*insert record scratch here*

Luigi stared. "WHAT?"

"It was written out of the dictionary over two and a half years ago," said Mario. "Along with:

Confuzzled

Snirt

Lingweenie

Mario looked at the words, and then roared menacingly. Immediately, the words zoomed away.

Mario looked back at them. "So from now on, it is currently illegal to bring any logic into any storyline. Besides, it saves the idiot who paid us do all this time and money."

(Mario is referring to Axel Nightblazer, the Author who named himself after me.)

"But…er…wouldn't that just tick off our readers and send our hit levels plummeting down so low they go down to the Underworld?" Terra asked.

"Exactly," said Mario with a smug expression on his face.

"Sounds fun," said Terra. "Let's do it."

"Sheesh," said Luigi. "All this nonsensical stuff is like watching the author try and do _Purple Coins on the Rainbow Road_ on his Super Mario Galaxy 2 file! It's a continuous and completely pointless epic fail that only serves to makes my brain throw up."

"Attack the Sense Believer!" Terra shouted angrily.

"KILL THE SENSE BELIEVER!" shouted Aeron and Mario with murderous intent.

"NOOOOOO!" Luigi shouted.

Immediately, everyone began trying to kill Luigi.

Except for me. I just took a nap. =D

* * *

_One nap later…_

I yawned and got up. "Ahh, that was a nice slee-"

I saw Luigi lying on the ground mangled.

"What the heck happened to you?" I asked.

"Don't ask," Luigi groaned.

"…_Yasashisa ha tokidoki…zankoku dakara…  
Motomeru hodo … kotae wo miushinau…_

_Ameagari no machi… niji ga mieru nara…  
Ima… arukidasou…nani ka ga hajimaru…"_

I turned in the direction of the lilting, soft voice and saw Terra standing on a rock, singing some more of _Sore Ga, Ai Deshou _and looking off into the distance.

Terra noticed I was looking at her, and she quickly stopped singing and jumped off the rock. "Um…hey Axel!"

"Why're you so shy about people hearing your singing?" I asked. "It sounds pretty good."

"Um…no…it really isn't all that good…" Terra said, looking away. "Compared to some other people…"

"No, it's just fine," I said. "In fact, it's so good that I know only one person who sings better…" My voice trailed off as I remembered the state that Hanna was currently in. AKA: I have no idea what's happening to her.

"So…um…anyway," Terra said, seeming eager to change the subject. "Mario and Aeron are scouting the area to try and find out how to get us going."

**BLAM!**

We looked in the direction of the noise to see Aeron and Mario leveling large rocks at the far end of the planet. A Launch Star was trapped behind them.

And Aeron and Mario didn't seem to be having an easy time. Which makes no sense, because Aeron could level it all easily. I guess it's just a rule of anime-things must be hard for the good guys.

"Couldn't you do anything?" I asked.

"Um…no, I don't think…um…I'd be able to destroy any of them…" Terra said.

"Just try it," I said, noting something about Terra. There was something odd about her presence in the spiritual dimension…

"Okay…" Terra went up to the rocks and drew back her fist. She punched hard.

All the rocks crumbled from it.

Terra stared. "What…"

"Awesome!" said Mario. "We can get to the Launch Star! Let's go, Aeron! Terra! Axel! Sense Believer!"

"Sheesh," muttered Aeron. "You're worse than Shuren!"

"Don't remind me," I grumbled.

Shuren was a member of the Seven Deadly Sins who escaped from…ah…the Underworld (I am forbidden by my friends to say its true name). He embodied Pride and was true to it, as well. Shuren was very confident and flamboyant, not to mention supremely arrogant. However, he was able to back this up by being very cruel and calculating. He also referred to the ones under his leadership in a not so great way, calling them 'useless' and 'disposable'. He was referred to by Szayel Aporro Granz as being conceited when the Espada left Aizen's side after finding he allied with the Seven Deadly Sins.

ANYWAY, we headed to a planet…that was really small. But ahead of us was a field of blue stars floating in midair amongst several asteroids. Oh yes, and mines.

"Now what?" Mario asked.

"We destroy everything?" Luigi said.

"Sure," I said, and tossed a rock at one of the mines. It hit.

Dare I say what happens next?

Fine.

The mine exploded. And then it caused another mine to explode. And that mine caused another to explode. And that one caused _several_ mines to explode.

This went on until the chain reaction caused all the mines to explode, leaving nothing but the blue stars and a bunch of floating pebbles.

…

"…what…" I said. "…have I done?"

"Um, you threw a rock and it destroyed everything by chain reaction exploding?" Terra said.

"Oh yeah," I said.

"Well, we'll just have to get through what's left of the minefield," said Mario. He reached out and closed his eyes, and one of the blue stars began to flash…

Suddenly, a beam emitted from one of the blue stars, and it reached Mario, trapping him in a bubble.

"OH MY GOD, MARIO!" Terra shouted, worried about what was going on.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed that a smaller star was cut out of the blue star. And Mario was touching it as it pulled him back towards the star.

Mario reached out for another, and was pulled to that one by its own smaller star. Mario continued to do this until he was pulled into a Launch Star.

Mario immediately blasted off, and Luigi decided to do the same.

"Okay, focus on the blue stars," said Luigi. "They're Pull Stars. Once you concentrate on them, you think of pulling yourself there. It'll pull you to it."

I reached out and closed my eyes. Then I visualized a black circle. It was very dark and deep, and I pictured myself diving into it.

This was the basic way to perform Kido (Demon way), and I pretended to pull in my mind.

Then suddenly I found myself yanked out into space, and I was floating next to the Pull Star.

"This is easy," I thought, and I pulled myself to another one. Soon I got to the Launch Star and blasted off.

We traveled to a yellow spherical crystal. There was a flag on it, as well as a Sling Star.

Mario paused to tap the flag, and it suddenly turned red with a red M on it.

Above us was a planet that was made purely of steel. However, there were several holes in it in various locations.

"Now what?" I asked.

"We go off!" Mario shouted, jumping forward. He blasted upwards in the Sling Star, but ran into a Rock Mushroom that was floating there in the process. This caused him to hit a platform that I had failed to notice earlier and forced him to go into Rock form and speed off a ramp towards the steel planet.

Mario raced across the planet, dodging holes. However, they were very large, and Mario was having a hard time navigating.

"Look out!" Terra shouted.

"Don't worry, I got this-SCREW THIS, TASTY SHROOMS!" Mario shouted, racing towards a large green mushroom with white spots. Actually, a whole bunch of them.

He was so busy trying to get the Shrooms, he accidentally fell into one of the holes.

"IDIOT!" Luigi shouted.

"CRAAAAAP!" Mario shouted as he fell out of sight.

Suddenly Mario reappeared next to us.

"WELL THAT WAS JUST (explicative removed)!" Mario shouted. "WHY CAN'T I EVER GET A TASTY SHROOM?"

"You risked your life just to satisfy your Shroom addiction?" Luigi asked, obviously annoyed.

"WHAT?" Mario shouted. "I CAN'T HELP IT!"

"And here I was thinking we eliminated that in therapy…" Luigi muttered.

"Sigh…let's just go," said Terra. "Thing is, how would the Rock Mushroom work for _me_?"

"Well, I don't know," said Luigi.

"Um, I guess I'll find out…" Terra blasted off in the sling star and into the Rock Mushroom.

Immediately, all of Terra's clothes (minus her sleeves) were covered in rock, as well as her hair and wrists. There were still emeralds in the parts around her wrists, though.

"Wow…" Terra said, looking down at her body. I guess it looked kind of cool to her. "Okay, here I go!" She whirled into a rock, and raced across the ramp.

"Here we go!" Mario shouted, and grabbed the Rock Mushroom himself. He raced after Terra across the steel planet.

"Hey, wait up!" Luigi shouted, rolling after them.

"Hm…I don't think I want to get that rock mushroom," I decided. "What should we do, Aeron?"

"What we always do," said Aeron.

* * *

_One teleportation later…_

"We're he-" began Mario. He suddenly stopped.

"Hey Mario, how's it going?" I asked casually.

Mario flipped out. Aeron and I had used unfair teleportation to get over the whole steel thing.

_You guys are really unfair._

HEY! TERRA! THIS IS MY LOG! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING HERE?

_Sorry, um, I just thought it'd be okay to state my opinion, Axel, no need to get so worked up…_

Okay, alright. Just…can you just let me write this? It IS my log.

_Okay, Axel._

Okay. ANYWAY, we ended up on another planet like the one we had seen earlier. Large Boulders were rolling around on it, and there were five blue Star Chips floating around.

"What the heck is this?" I wondered.

"Let's get the Star Chips," Luigi said.

So we ran to get the Star Chips. Terra jumped past a Boulder and swiped one that was on a rock between some rolling boulders. Aeron raced past another Boulder and grabbed a second that was in its path.

Mario raced around in a rock (there must have been a Rock Mushroom I didn't see) and smashed through several boulders. He jumped and grabbed a third that was above a Boulder.

Luigi rolled out over some ramps, over an L shaped platform, and grabbed a Star Chip over the void. He came back safely through another ramp.

I saw that the last one was on the far edge of the planet. I raced towards it, but then I noticed some strange launcher like things on the side of the platform…

Suddenly, large warheads with faces popped out of them.

"WAAAAAH!" Mario shouted. "BANZAI BILL!"

"Huh?" I asked.

The Banzai Bills blasted out of their launchers, and suddenly I found that I had to jump, backpedal, run, crouch, and a bunch of other thing in a random fast order.

_Several hours of torture later…_

I finally got sick of it and blasted the Banzai Bills with a Sazanami no Tsuki. Then I raced over and grabbed the last Star Chip.

I ran back to the others, and we put the Star Chips together. They came together into a sphere of blue energy, and Pull Stars appeared, going into the air, leading to a Launch Star. We pulled ourselves to the Launch Star, and went off again.

We blasted off towards a narrow road of earth that raced over the void, and at the end was a large purple crystal. It was GIGANTIC compared to the ones we had seen before. A nimbus of golden energy was emitting from the crystal, so I figured it was our final stop. And it was floating in space, with a ramp leading towards it.

Guess what the only way to get to it was?

The Rock Mushroom. So predictable.

Mario grabbed the Rock Mushroom and raced off the ramp. "Here we go!" he shouted.

I jumped off the ramp after him. "Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that," I said.

"Or maybe I will keep telling myself that," Mario said.

Mario was having problems staying on the track. It was very narrow, and more than once he was racing on the rims of a turn.

Because I was going on foot, I found a much easier time. But then…

Suddenly, Mario zoomed towards the void due to a hairpin turn.

"LOOK OUT!" Luigi shouted.

I knew there was only one thing to do. I jumped up and kicked the Mario rock.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Mario shouted, as he zoomed upwards, landing at the end of the road that the crystal was at. He smashed through the Boulders rolling around it, crashing headfirst into the crystal. The Crystal suffered several internal cracks in it.

I suddenly remembered that I was over the void, and knew that things would be bad for me at that point. So I got an idea.

"Hado 33: Sokatsui (Blue Fire, Crash Down)!" I shouted, pointing my palm at the area underneath me.

Blue lines of light pulled in around my hand, and a blast of white-blue fire blasted from it, propelling me up onto the road.

I ran towards the crystal, as Mario whirled into his boulder and smashed it again. The crystal cracked even more-so much its outer edges were also cracking.

I ran onto the place where the crystal was just as Mario smashed it a third time. The crystal couldn't take three hits and it shattered, releasing the Star.

"Okay," I said. "I hated that."

"So did I," said Mario. "Well, at least it's over now."

**WE GOT A STAR!**

* * *

We returned to Starship Mario with our third Star now.

"Alright," said Aeron. "Now let's go look for more Stars in that galaxy."

"Um…guys?" Terra said. "I don't know about going there again…"

"Hey…what's with that light?" Mario asked.

We suddenly became aware that there was rainbowy light flowing across everything. We turned towards the source, and saw a large, rainbow colored comet streaking across the sky and beginning to orbit the Rolling Rock Rolling…Rolling Galaxy.

What did this mean?


	6. These Pranks Ain't Funny

**The Cosmos are a wonderful and wondrous place.**

**But we hated it because of one thing:**

**Comets.**

**

* * *

**

**Traveler's Log Entry 05: These Pranks Ain't Funny**

**Aeron**

**

* * *

**

Hello, everyone, it's Aeron Solo writing. I hope you will all enjoy reading about our adventure, or else it sure won't be worth it.

Well, Axel left off with the big comet appearing, so…

We watched in awe as the comet raced around the galaxy. It was racing around faster than you'd expect.

"What _is _that thing?" I wondered. "Is this the Prankster Comet Luigi was talking about?"

"Seems that way," Luigi said. "But I've never seen it up close."

The comet raced around it faster, and faster, and faster still, until there was something of a rainbow colored ring around the galaxy.

"Well, let's find out what that means, shall we?" Axel asked, walking up to the wheel. He stepped on the pad, and then the Holomap appeared in front of him. Axel touched the screen, and it zoomed in on the image of the Rolling Rock Rolling…Rolling Galaxy.

But this time, there was something different. There was a red star and some streak behind it, and the star was spinning. And this was plastered on the galaxy's image.

"Okay, let's do it!" Axel said, and he hit the button. The Launch Star appeared.

"Um, guys, isn't this kind of…reckless?" Terra asked, nervous.

"Yep," said Axel casually.

"Then should we really do it?"

"Yep again," Axel said.

"Here we go!" Mario shouted, blasting off.

"I don't have any cool lines to say!" Axel complained as he went after Mario.

"That's because you fail!" I shouted, going after Axel.

As soon as we landed, I could tell things had changed. The atmosphere looked red. Red, red, and more red. Also, the planet we were on had many holes in it. And there were…dare I say it…giant stopwatches floating around everywhere.

"What the heck is this?" Mario wondered.

"Well, you've seen Prankster Comets before, so shouldn't you know about them?" I asked.

"Well, none of them brought the red glow thingy," Mario said.

"Sigh…Mario, it's FREAKING OBVIOUS!" Luigi said, annoyed. "Those stopwatches mean that this is a Speed Run!"

"A _what_?" I asked.

"This is a Speed Run," Luigi said. "We have to get to the Star, but we have a limited amount of time to do it."

"Sounds bad," said Axel. "Let's move!"

We all ran to attack the Octoombas. Mario spun a whole bunch out of the way…and then suddenly everything started whipping around randomly.

"WHAT THE HECK?" Mario shouted.

* * *

The whipping stopped.

And then we found ourselves back where we started. And the Octoombas were completely fine. In fact, they looked like we had never attacked them.

"What just…" I began.

"That's what Speed Runs do," said Luigi. "We're gonna keep teleporting here unless we can get the Star. Now let's MOVE!"

We attacked the Octoombas…again. This time, I had my Zanpaku-to out.

"Rule over the raging heavens…Tsubasa no Rai-oh!" I shouted. (Axel already gave you a translation in the last chapter, so whatever.)

My sword morphed into…what? Axel said it already? Dang it.

I held out my hand, and icy energy began to accumulate at it.

"Hama Hyoketsu (Magic wave: Freeze)!" I shouted.

The energy flared out, and a massive wave of icy energy blasted away, smashing into the Octoombas, defeating them instantly. And putting a glacier in their place.

"Hey guys, what does this stopwatch do?" Axel asked, pointing at the giant clock. Actually, it was more like a giant stopwatch. The stopwatch was ticking down to 15 seconds…14…13…

"Maybe it'll do something if I press the button," said Axel. He pushed it, and it suddenly stopped ticking.

"Huh?" Terra wondered. "What kind of stopwatch is this?"

"Hey, isn't there a Whomp that's gonna fall on us?" Luigi asked.

"Err, what's that shadow above us?" I asked.

"AH!" everyone shouted, and bolted away as the Whomp tried to smash his face into our heads.

"They never learn sense, do they?" Mario asked, smashing the Whomp flat with a Ground Pound.

The Rock Mushroom appeared behind us, and Mario and Luigi quickly grabbed them.

"Now!" Luigi shouted.

The two whirled into their Rock forms and launched a joint attack on the giant purple crystal. It shattered instantly.

We blasted off, but then…

"Hey, it's another stopwatch!" Axel shouted. He reached out and pushed the button at exactly the right moment.

Thing is, I noticed that it was at 20 seconds when it stopped.

We ended up on the next planet, which I am too lazy to describe. This time, though, the random platforms that Luigi used to get the Comet Medal were gone. And the planet was filled with holes.

"Quick! Destroy the rocks!" Luigi shouted.

Axel jumped over a hole and smashed the button on another stopwatch. I noticed it was on 23 seconds.

Mario grabbed the Rock Mushroom and raced across the planet. He was having an even harder time due the holes.

"Gotta…stay…on course…" Mario muttered. "OH CRAP, FALLING!" he shouted, falling into a hole.

Too bad. =D

* * *

Suddenly, everything began whipping around, and we were back on the starting planet.

"What?" I shouted. "What are we _doing_ back here?"

"I think it's because Mario fell into that hole…" Terra said.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR (explicative removed) ENTIRE FAULT!" Axel shouted at Mario. "AND WHY AM I GETTING PAID TO SAY SUCH DUMB LINES?"

"Because you fail," I said. "Now why is that stopwatch that you pushed earlier ticking down to 23?"

"AW CRAP!" Axel shouted. He quickly ran, pushed the Stopwatch, and well, we kind of did high speed Octoomba destruction. It was very fast paced, and I don't feel like trying to recount it.

Then the Whomp came again. And Mario ground pounded it again.

"Okay!" Axel said. "Let's go! And this calls for epic music!" He grabbed an MP3.

"Where'd you get that from?" Luigi asked.

"Somewhere you don't know," Axel said. The music started playing.

* * *

_Itsuka, itsuka, yakusoku no sora…  
Kimi to nara mata toberu yo!_

_Kuyashikute tsurakute nemurenai yoru…  
Dare ni demo aru yo…  
Sonna toki, ha yonde, kaketsukeru kara  
Oto no hayasade ne… _

_Sore ga sadame demo ne, aragau yo.  
Kimi ga, hora, waratte ne kureru kara…_

_Kanaetai yume tooi kedo,  
Isshou nara dekiru yo, muteki no yuuki de…  
Kirakira hikaru sono namida,  
Egao no mahou de ne tsubasa ni kaetara…  
Kitto, kitto, habatakeru kara…  
Niji wo koe sono saki made!_

_Zutto oboeteru yo, ano hi kawashita…  
Kimi to no yakusoku…  
Donna takai kabe mo, tobi koeteiku…  
Hitamuki na sugata… _

_Dakara itsumo mae ni susumeru yo…  
Kimi ga mata waratte ne kureru kara… _

_Kanaetai yum, tooku kara,  
Mimamoru dake jyanaku…isshou ni sagasou…  
Mune ni shimatta, sono kizu mo,  
Egao no mahou de ne…yuuki ni kaetara…  
Motto, motto, habatakeru hazu…  
Kumo wo nuke oozora he to!_

_Akiramenai tsuyosa to,  
Tachi mukau tsubasa kureta,  
Kimi to ima mugen no sora he… _

_Kanaetai yume, kono saki ga,  
Tatoe kurayami demo nani mo kowakunai…  
Mamoru beki mono, mamoru koto…  
Isshou nara dekiru yo egao no mahou de… _

_Kirakira hikaru…mirai made,  
Ima joushou kiryuu note…tsubasa wo hirogete…  
Itsuka, itsuka, yakusoku no sora…  
kimi to nara mata toberu yo! _

_Fumi daseba hora toberu yo!_

_

* * *

_

"Where'd you get that music from?" Luigi asked.

"Why should I tell you?" Axel asked.

"What's it called?" Mario asked.

"_Egao no Mahao_," said Axel. "Don't ask for a translation. Go find one yourself."

"It means 'The Magic of Smiles'," I said, rolling my eyes. Why did Axel have to be such a lazy bum?

"That was really nice," said Terra. "I wish I could sing like that."

"Why?" Axel asked. "There's no reason for you to. You sound better."

"What?" Terra looked embarrassed. "Um…no…I'm not all that good…really, no one's ever said…"

"Has anyone ever heard you sing?" I asked.

"Well…not really, no," Terra said. "But I don't consider it all that great, because…"

Suddenly everything began to whip around.

* * *

And all the Octoombas came back.

"How long did that song take?" Aeron asked.

"4 minutes," Axel said.

"AARRGHHH!" Luigi shouted. "THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING!"

"Sigh…let's go," Axel said.

The Octoombas turned to fight us yet again.

I raised my sword, and the winds began to swirl around it.

"Kamaitachi (Wind Scythe)!" I shouted, and brought it down, sending a ripping gale at the Octoombas, pretty much destroying them.

Axel jumped and hit the button on the Stopwatch. "This is getting old…"

The Whomp came down. This time, I just raised my sword again.

"Kamaitachi!" I shouted, sending the attack at the Whomp, slicing it in two.

"Get the Rock Mushroom!" Luigi shouted, and he grabbed it the moment it appeared.

Mario grabbed a second. "Let's a go!"

"Why do the Mario Bros. get all the lines?" Axel asked as Mario and Luigi smashed the crystal to pieces.

We went on. Terra pushed the button down on the next Stopwatch. We were down to 26 seconds when it stopped.

But there was an army of many Octoombas waiting for us.

"We don't have much time!" Mario said. "Luigi, we'll just have to use _that_!"

"Cool!" Luigi said. "That means I'll be able to eat sweets!"

"Let's go then!" Mario shouted, reaching into a basket that he mysteriously pulled up out of nowhere. Strangely, it resembled a cake with a stawberry on it. "Snack time, Luigi!"

Mario punched the strawberry and the basket burst open. He reached in and threw many things out of the basket: cake, cookies, lollipops, ice cream, donuts, it goes on.

Luigi began running around and catching them in his mouth. He caught all of them. Then…suddenly…

"Yum!…oh…ooh…I feel weird…" Luigi suddenly began to get…fat. He bloated to become really, REALLY fat.

Mario reached down and grabbed him. His muscles tensed a whole ton, but he couldn't move Luigi. "Ergh…you've gained weight, Luigi…"

"Urp…Sorry…" Luigi said.

"We'll help!" Terra shouted, and she ran underneath Luigi. The two began to lift Luigi. Terra broke into a sweat. "Gosh…he's so…heavy…"

"I'll help, too!" I shouted, as Axel grabbed a Stopwatch that was on a rock. I myself ran under Luigi and lifted. Believe me. It was really hard. Like trying to lift, like, everything from five dimensions compacted together.

And no, I haven't done it.

But we slowly began to lift Luigi into the air…

"3…2…1…NOW!" Mario shouted, and he threw Luigi into the air with all his might.

The Octoombas stared in utter horror as Luigi's shadow fell on them. Then they began running.

Too late.

Luigi fell down to earth, CRUSHING many of the Octoombas under his weight.

And the others weren't safe either. Luigi created a massive earthquake upon landing.

"AaAaAaAa!" Terra shouted, hanging onto a rock.

I stabbed my sword into the ground to steady myself. "God…" I muttered.

The Octoombas were sent flying into the air and blew up. Immediately, Luigi reverted back to his regular size. "That was tasty!" he commented.

"Urgh…I should never use Snack Basket again…" Getting up, Mario grabbed a Rock Mushroom. "Go!" he shouted, and began to smash through the field of rocks with his rock form. "These rocks are too hard! It's gonna take me a while to get through them all!"

"I'll try!" Terra said, bringing her fist back. She punched, and the rocks were all blasted away.

"I'll get all the Stopwatches," Axel said, and he ran over and pushed the button down on a Stopwatch at 29 seconds. He ran over and jumped onto a big rock and pushed another one down at 36. Then he ran to a last one next to the Launch Star and pushed it down at 40.

We blasted off, but didn't find any Stopwatches in our path. And when we landed in front of the Pull Star Path, there were no mines, but instead…

"Choppahs!" Mario shouted. (Please. I don't know how to describe them, so just go to this place called Super Mario Wikia where Mario writes all about himself, excluding the stuff that idiot up there pays me and the others to do.)

"Can't we defeat them?" Terra asked.

"Nope, they're invulnerable," said Luigi. "So, we have to avoid them."

"This is _such_ a pain!" Axel muttered, annoyed as they began to pull themselves through the field.

I saw a Stopwatch and pushed the button on it, showing our time at 40 seconds yet again. Then we began pulling ourselves towards the Pull Stars, avoiding the Choppahs.

Mario quickly pulled himself towards another Pull Star, but this caused him to swing around in the direction he was going in previously, since he was going much too fast to turn sharply.

And a Choppah was nearby.

"CRAP!" Mario shouted.

"Shinsei Bakuha (Nova Blast)!" I shouted, knowing it was the only thing that would reach him in time.

A circle of light was pulled towards my finger, and then a pulse of green energy fringed with gold blasted towards the Choppah, temporarily knocking it off course, giving Mario enough time to change direction.

"This is worse than mines!" Luigi muttered, pulling himself in the 5 inch wide space between two Choppahs that were slowly causing the gap to get smaller.

Terra hit another Stopwatch, and by that time I figured that they added 10 seconds to our time before the time reversion, so that put us at 35 seconds. We were pretty good so far.

Axel was the first to reach the Launch Star. "Come on, guys!" he shouted. "If you haven't noticed, we're a bit short on time! And that's _not_ a joke!"

"We're coming!" Terra shouted, trying to go faster. She began pulling on more Pull Stars faster.

And, of course, this brought her very near to the Choppahs. Once or twice, I figured she was going to get an unwanted haircut.

"Terra, don't push yourself too hard," I said.

"But we-" she began.

"Axel is just an idiot," I said. "Don't take what he says too seriously. You'll reach the Launch Star with plenty of time to spare if you go at your regular pace."

"Oh…okay," Terra said, and she relaxed. She pulled on the Pull Stars at her regular speed. And I could see she was performing better this way.

In fact, she reached the Launch Star second.

Mario reached it third.

Luigi reached it fourth, as he was getting all the remaining Stopwatches.

I reached it last. I could've just gone ahead of everyone, but I decided to blast the Choppahs away so everyone could get by safely.

We blasted off again. I checked my watch. _46…45…44…_

But there was a shock when we got to the next planet. Because the large steel platform wasn't present.

Instead, there were many tiny steel platforms.

"Well, this is going to really cut our time down…" Luigi commented.

Mario grabbed the Rock Mushroom and headed across the platforms. But as soon as he hit one, he'd have to jump again due to their extreme shortness.

"This is really hard!" Mario said.

Terra grabbed the Rock Mushroom and zoomed after him. She wasn't having an easier time. "Oh…my…I think I'm going to…"

"You can do it!" Luigi shouted, racing after them. But Luigi appeared to be having an easier time.

_Did he calculate his route or something? _I wondered. Apparently, Luigi was really smart.

"Oh no…" Terra said. "I'm going to…aaaaahhhh!"

Terra hit the edge of a platform, was knocked backwards, and fell into the void.

* * *

Suddenly, everything began whipping around yet again, and we were once again back at the starting point.

"AH!" Axel shouted. "NOT AGAIN!"

"Sorry…" Terra looked down. "I tried, but…well…most of the time my best isn't enough."

"It's okay," Luigi said. "You tried your hardest."

"It just wasn't _remotely_ enough," said Mario, annoyed.

Terra continued to look down at the earth she was sitting on.

"Don't worry, Terra," I said. "It'll turn out better next time."

"23," Axel suddenly said.

This got us scrambling.

Once again, we blasted the Octoombas away as fast as we could, then blew up the Whomp as fast as we could, and then Mario and Luigi broke the crystal again. As fast as they could.

We quickly traveled to the next planet with a time of 20 seconds. And once again, we smashed the Octoomba army and the rocks to pieces, and hurried to the Launch Star with a time of 41.

Through the Pull Star maze, we raced past Choppahs, pushing down the buttons on as many clocks as we could. We left that area with a time of 56.

And then, we arrived on the path of, well, a bunch of tiny steel platforms.

"Here we go!" Mario shouted. He grabbed the Rock Mushroom and began to race over platforms.

"This time, I'll do better…I hope…" Terra grabbed another Rock Mushroom and raced after Mario.

"We'll get through it this time!" Luigi said. He grabbed a third Rock Mushroom.

The three raced over the platforms. More than once, one came very, VERY close to the edge. But always, they would jump away to another one and keep going on.

"Should we?" Axel asked.

"…nah," I said.

So we teleported again.

* * *

_Later…_

"We're here again!" Mario said. "HUH?"

"We got here before you again," Axel said, grinning.

"This really isn't fair…" Terra said.

I looked at her. She quickly covered her mouth.

"…come on, let's go." I said.

So we left that place with 65 seconds.

The next planet loomed ahead. However, it was punched full of holes, like the planet we had seen before this one. And rolling around it, unlike before, were Chomps.

"We gotta be careful here…" Mario said.

Terra ran over, made a dive and grabbed a Blue Star Chip that was in a Chomps path. "Got one-"

Suddenly a Chomp rolled on her ankle.

"Augh!" Terra shouted.

"Terra!" Mario shouted.

"Ergh…Just get the other Star Chips!" Terra shouted, pulling herself out of the path of another Chomp.

"Right!" Mario shouted. He jumped off, pushing a Stopwatch and setting us at 69. Then he jumped past some Chomps rolling in a circle around a rock and grabbed a Star Chip.

Luigi hurried past the Banzai Bill blasters. It was hard, because they blasted a whole ton, and there were many holes-some forcing him to stand in the path of Bill Blasters. But eventually, he reached the end and grabbed the Star Chip and a Stopwatch, putting us at 69 again.

Axel jumped out to the void and landed on the L shaped platform. He grabbed another Star Chip and Stopwatch, and jumped back.

"Okay," Axel said. "Aeron, the last one's your responsibility."

"WHAT?" I asked, irritated.

"Yeah!" said Mario. "Because I am so awesome! So you have to get the hard one."

"And you have to stop saying you're so awesome," Axel said. "So I can FIRE MAH LAZOR BLAAAAARRRRGGG!"

Axel launched a massive beam of blue-silver energy upwards into the sky.

"Um…what was that supposed to do?" Mario asked.

Axel pointed up.

"Huh?" Mario looked up.

The moon suddenly turned full and blasted an even greater blast of energy into Mario.

**BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**

Mario was all fried.

"Cough…"

"Well, fine, I'll get it," I said, jumping up.

A Chomp suddenly ran me over.

"WAGH!" I got flattened. "Why you…"

_This part has been censored out to keep this from becoming M rated. =D_

I jumped up towards it a second time, but a second Chomp came and tried to steamroll me. Immediately, I raised my sword.

"Kamaitachi!"

The Chomp was sliced in half by the blade of wind. Then I brought my sword back up and smashed the flat of the blade against the Star Chip, smashing it down into Axel's hand.

"Put them together!" Mario shouted.

The Star Chips came together and blue energy appeared in the sky, taking the form of Pull Stars.

"Quick!" Mario pulled himself to the Launch Star. As did the rest of us.

We left the planet with 46 seconds to go (due to my excessive causing to suffer of a Chomp-whoops, that's grammarically incorrect-dah, who cares?).

Then we were off to the final destination. And it looked like things would be even harder this time.

The road did even more loops, and sometimes there would be no road at all-just a couple platforms floating in space.

"They never make it easy for us…" Axel complained.

"You know, I wonder why that idiot up there pays us to do this when he could just CGI animate everything, so we wouldn't have to do it in real life," Luigi said.

"Um…actually, he doesn't know _how_ to CGI animate," said Terra. "And besides, this _isn't_ real. There's a reason why they call it a Fan_fiction_, you know."

"Aw…" Luigi said.

"You know that saying all that will pull the Dream Thrasher Alert, right?" I asked.

"Oh, it's undergoing maintenance," Mario said. "So it won't be functional for the entire story."

"Oh, right," I said, annoyed that the author never tells me that stuff.

"Let's hurry!" Luigi shouted, and he grabbed the Rock Mushroom.

"We will _not _fail here!" Axel said. "Especially since we've wasted so much of our sanity here!"

"You have sanity?" I asked.

"SHUT UP!" Axel shouted. We ran off the ramp, and Luigi, Axel and I raced along the road. Mario and Terra sped behind.

"Sheesh…" Luigi muttered. "I should have calculated this stuff…"

"Calculations won't work if you don't have the ability to do it," I said.

"And you're saying my ability doesn't match up with what I plan out?" Luigi asked, sounding a little hurt.

"Don't worry," Axel said. "Happens a lot."

"At least you have a plan," Mario said.

"But there's always that crushing feeling when it fails," Terra said.

"Hm…true…" I said.

"Come on," Axel said. "We can get there, plan or not." He turned back to look at the road.

"I hope so…" Terra said.

"What's wrong?" Luigi asked. "Don't you have any confidence?"

"Not really…I always manage to mess up, no matter how hard I try."

"Well, don't worry," Mario said. "This time, you won't mess up."

"I hope…"

"Guys…" Axel began.

"Thinking that way guarantees you'll mess up," I said.

"But-"

"Guys, JUMP!" Axel interrupted.

"WHA-" Everyone was shocked by this. We had been talking so much; we'd forgotten to pay attention to the road.

Immediately, I found myself falling off the edge, along with Mario, Luigi and Terra. In fact, Axel was the only one who made it, because he'd been paying attention to the road.

* * *

Suddenly, we found ourselves on the starting planet yet again.

"AND THINGS WERE GOING SO WELL, TOO!" Axel shouted.

"Sorry…" Terra said.

"Well, this is everyone's fault!" Mario said. "Except for mine, because I am so awesome!"

"There he goes again…" I muttered as Mario went off to try and kill the Octoombas.

Once again, we did high speed Octoomba destruction. By now, we had had to go through this so many times that we knew what to do.

"We're never going to get through this," Luigi moaned.

"But that means we'll be here for the rest of our lives," Terra said, pushing the button on a Stopwatch. "And we still have a lot of it to go."

"We _will_ get through this," I said, smashing the Whomp with my sword.

"ATTACK!" Mario shouted, and Mario and Luigi leveled the crystal.

"Quick! Let's go and blow up those random octopus rock shooters as quickly as possible!" Axel shouted as he launched from the Launch Star.

"They're called Octoombas!" Luigi shouted, going after him.

"Whatever!" I shouted, going after Luigi.

We smashed the Octoombas and leveled the rocks, then pulled ourselves through the Pull Star maze, and dodged Chomps to get to the Pull Star Chips. We ran through the path of steel platforms, and then we were back at the narrow road that marked the most treacherous segment of our journey, with 65 seconds left.

"This time," Axel said. "We _will not _fail."

We traveled across the road, and got through it safely. But…

When we got to the end, there were numerous Chomps rolling around, as well as many holes that the Chomps didn't seem affected by. We had only 13 seconds left, due to the road having no clocks.

Mario, Terra, and Luigi all whirled into rocks and then raced around, dodging the Chomps and the holes. Then they smashed into the crystal, breaking it open.

"Now!" Mario shouted. "Get to the Star!"

_3…_

Axel and I ran past the Chomps.

_2…_

Mario, Luigi and Terra all came out of their rock forms and dashed towards the Star.

_1…_

We all lunged for the Star.

And our hands touched it just as the whipping barely began.

"That was close," said Luigi.

**WE GOT A STAR!**

* * *

We came back to Starship Mario, exhausted.

"Seems you went through a lot, huh?" Lubba said. "Look…I just want you guys to know that we appreciate all you're doing, okay?"

"Thanks, Lubba," Mario said.

"No, thank _you_," Lubba said. "If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have gotten the Stars back. Now go take a rest. You can enter the sleeping quarters through going off the back edge of the platform. A door will open up as you walk back towards it. You can rest there."

"Thanks, Lubba," Luigi said, as he turned to leave.

"Hey, guys, look!" Terra shouted.

We turned, and saw the Prankster Comet flash brightly, orbit faster, and then suddenly zoom away from the galaxy.

"Well, I hope we never see it again," I said.


	7. The Shining Stars, Verse 1

**Who are they?**

**Who are the ones who defend the universe from whatever might come? Who are the ones that embody their powers? Who are the ones who fight to protect everyone, no matter what may happen?**

**They are the Shining Stars. And we swore to do what they are meant to do.**

**

* * *

**

**The Shining Stars, Verse 1**

**Terra**

**

* * *

**

Let me be honest with who I am at this point. I'm not that special, just your average 11 year old or so girl…who just happens to be incredibly shy, doses off a whole ton in class, gets pretty mediocre grades, and has very few friends. I worry a lot that they won't accept me and kind of back down in large groups.

Really, I feel like the world outside is where I should be. The grass, the sky, the trees…they all kind of seem friendlier. And so that's why I dose off a lot in class.

People say I'm really good at singing, but I…well, I don't think I'm that good when I hear other people singing. Like Minna Dietlinde Wilcke…and also…

There's this pretty famous person I heard of called Hanna Bladesinger, and I heard she was so good at it…in fact, she was the whole reason I went to the Star Festival. I heard about how good she sang, and had been compared to her several times when it came to my singing. So I wanted to know if she was that good. At any rate, probably better than me.

But maybe it would have been better if I didn't…I have this strange tendency to kind of give up. I try hard at first, but after a bit it usually seems that my best isn't good enough, or I see other people doing something and either doing extremely well or getting highly praised for it, and I end up falling into despair. So I think I'm not really fit to be who I'm now supposed to be.

So why am I?

I can't really say why they'd choose _me_, but all I know is that now, even if my best isn't enough, I will give it all I've got. To protect everybody…so that no one will feel lonely like I do…

* * *

Everything began when I woke up.

"Ohh…" Ugh, my brain was still plagued with the aftertaste of the Speed Run we had endured yesterday. My legs ached from running so much. I was still feeling like I should be moving faster.

I got up off my bed, which was…well…unusually comfortable. I slowly made my way over and walked onto a pad that was in the middle of the room. I stood on it, and a blue glow appeared around me. Before it happened, I looked around. Axel was sleeping soundly, Luigi was rolled over with his hands over his ears, and Mario was snoring loudly. Which explained why I kept hearing noise all of last night.

But where was Aeron?

Well, I found him on deck already. After teleporting onto the Compass Rose that was printed on deck through special technology (which I can't understand), I saw him on deck.

"Um, hi Aeron," I said, sidling up next to him.

"Hey," he said. "I'm surprised you're awake."

"Huh?" I asked.

"After the events that happened yesterday, I'd expected everyone would be sleeping in," he explained. "I sure wish I was. Still haven't recovered my sanity from that."

"You lose sanity from that?" I asked, surprised.

"No," Aeron replied. "That was a joke."

"YAWN!" Axel suddenly came out, yawning loudly.

"SHUT UP!" Aeron shouted, kicking him in the face.

"Good morning, everyone!" Luigi called, teleporting onto the Compass Rose.

"Good morning," I said.

Axel and Aeron were too busy fighting to say anything. Well, actually, more like trying to kill each other.

"Well, while those two try to kill each other," Mario said, coming up. "What's for breakfast?"

"Star Bits!" Lubba said.

"NOOOOO…"

"Huh?" I asked. "What's wrong with Star Bits?"

"NO MUSHROOMS?" Mario shouted.

**THWAK!**

Luigi smashed part of Mario's head off.

"OW MY HEAD IT HURTS SO MUCH!" Mario shouted.

"Ugh, I can't believe it's taking him so long to get over his addiction over mushrooms," Luigi muttered.

"We _do_ live in the Mushroom Kingdom," I pointed out.

"Oh yeah," Luigi said. "Well, that could have an influence on his brain, which is so weird I can't understand it."

"Well, I've never _tasted_ Star Bits," I said. "But do we have any?"

"Oh, don't you know?" Luigi asked. "As we went through our journeys, I collected Star Bits. They can easily fit in your pockets, but 1000 is way too much for me. Apparently, Star Bits are attracted to people with The Power of the Cosmos."

"You'll see a lot of 'em out there," Lubba said. "They appear all over the place."

"So…what do they taste like?" I asked.

"Just try them," Luigi said.

"Um…okay…" I said, taking some. I popped them into my mouth, half expecting that I would break my teeth on them.

They tasted really great. I think it was like honey. And the best part was, I didn't break my teeth on them.

"Pretty good, huh?" Luigi said.

"Yeah," I said.

"Awesome," said Lubba. "Hey, if you ever get to see the Sky Islands, tell me, okay?"

"Hm?" I asked.

"The Sky Islands. What, you don't know what they are?" Lubba asked.

"No," I said, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"Sigh…alright, people, listen," said Lubba. "I'm gonna tell you about a cosmic legend.

"The Sky Islands are a galaxy somewhere out there. The planets there are islands floating high in what seems to be a windy atmosphere. They are said to embody the Wind."

"Wow…" Mario said.

"When Mario, Luigi, and I headed out to save Princess Peach the first time," Lubba said. "I hoped we'd be able to go see them. It's extremely hard to find them. But in the end, we weren't able to go there." He sighed sadly.

"Wow…Lubba, I had no idea," said Luigi. "Why didn't you tell us? We could have gone to look for them."

"Well, the fate of the Universe mattered more," Lubba said. "And that reminds me. Aren't you guys supposed to be doin' something right now?"

"Huh?" Axel asked.

"AH!" we all shouted, and Mario bolted to the wheel.

"Take off!" he shouted, and the ship's engines burst to life. We headed out for the next galaxy.

"What's next?" Luigi asked.

"Let's see…" Mario's eyes raced across the holomap. "Let's head for Battle Blaster Galaxy!" (Between you and me, I think the author is bad at making names.)

"Wonder why they call it that?" Aeron wondered.

"Maybe they make you go through a battle station where cannons are blasting at you," said Axel.

"Well, we'll just have to avoid getting hit by them," Mario said. "We're here!" He tapped the screen, and the Launch Star appeared. "Is everyone ready?"

"Well as long as there are no teleporting at random intervals of time involved…" Aeron said. "I'm ready."

"I'm ready," Axel said. "We have to keep pushing along. Who knows what Bowser may do, and how many lives he might ruin?"

"We have to keep going on for Peach, too," Luigi said, stepping up.

Everyone looked at me. For some reason, I didn't feel the courage they did.

"Um…" I began.

"Don't have the confidence?" Luigi asked. "It's okay. You can just stay here, then."

"B-but-" I suddenly realized I couldn't go on their reasons. I had few friends. I really didn't know Princess Peach that well. So why should I go? "Um…u…"

"What is it, Terra?" Mario asked, getting a bit impatient.

Eventually I realized I had to face it. I had no ground to back it up on. "Um…never mind," I said.

"You're worried you may be a burden, aren't you?" Axel said.

"Well…yeah," I finally said, looking down at my feet. I told them what I thought about myself.

"Hm…" Aeron said. "So you always think your best isn't enough…"

Aeron's hand suddenly whipped up. I thought he was going to hit me or something…

Instead I found an outstretched hand reaching towards me. I looked up.

Aeron was standing before me, holding his hand out. "Come with us," he said. "I guarantee that you will be a burden in no way."

I was silent. And then I suddenly thought: I may not have that many friends, but if Bowser was allowed to continue his business, there would be far too many like me under his rule: lonely, despairing, not ever making an effort. And I realized I couldn't let that happen.

I took his hand.

But as I did, I couldn't help feeling a tingling sensation. Somewhere in my heart…

"All right! Here we go!" Mario shouted.

* * *

Our flight took us into a galaxy with a cloudy, dark gray sky for an atmosphere. It didn't seem like a pleasant place.

"Uh…why does it look like an abandoned space station with many…armaments…?" Luigi said.

"ARMAMENTS? WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH~" Mario shouted, spiraling off course for some reason.

"MARIO?" Axel shouted.

While Mario spiraled off somewhere, the rest of us ended our flight on a planet that had…many…cannons?

"Whoa..." Axel said.

The planet had cannons that were facing outwards, but the wall that the cannons used to protrude out of were shattered, and the cannons were facing in random directions. And they were somehow still firing.

"What the-? They're still firing?" Luigi asked.

"Maybe they still have a power source," Aeron said. "We'll set _that_ right."

Aeron raised his sword, Tsubasa no Raioh, and I realized that it already was released.

"Kamaitachi!" Aeron shouted, spinning the blade around and sending a blast of wind that ripped through the cannonballs that the cannons were firing.

But the cannons continued to fire.

"Is there a way for us to get out of this planet?" Axel asked.

"It's up there," Luigi said, pointing. High above us, platforms and walls led up to a Launch Star.

"Not good," said Axel. "Any attempts to get there would get us in the path of cannon fire."

"There's a lever there that will stop the cannons from firing," Luigi said, pointing.

"But that's got several cannons of its own firing on our route there," Aeron said.

"Maybe we could throw something at the lever and it'll activate," I said.

"Maybe…" Luigi tossed a Star Bit at the lever.

It hit a cannonball and caused the cannonball to explode.

"O…k…" Luigi said. "Does anyone have any Star Bits?"

None of us did.

"Well this sucks…" Luigi muttered.

* * *

_Elsewhere…_

"HEEEEELLLOOOO?" Mario shouted. He was just floating in space.

_

* * *

_

Back where we were…

Aeron and Axel decided to reach the lever by just…dodging cannonballs.

Axel jumped over a cannonball. "Sheesh, this is harder than I thought. They're all firing in random directions; it's hard to figure out which way to dodge."

"Quit complaining!" Aeron said. He stuck out his hand, and a ring of energy pulled itself in around his finger. "Shinsei Bakuha!" he shouted, and blasted it at a cannon.

However, the cannon fired a cannonball conveniently at that time. So his attack didn't hit.

"Hama Hyoketsu!" Aeron shouted, and blasted a wave of ice from his hand, smashing into the cannons, freezing them solid.

There was only one problem.

"Err…" Axel and Aeron stared at a glacier. Aeron's attack was so powerful, EVERYTHING was covered by ice.

And this meant their path was blocked.

"Nice going, genius," Axel muttered.

"Shall we burn through?" Aeron asked.

"Whatever," said Axel. "Do you have any flame-based attacks, though?"

"ARE YOU TELLING ME YOU FORGOT?" Aeron shouted. "Whatever. This thing isn't worth any of them, so…"

Aeron's hand suddenly generated a bright red fireball.

"Hado 31: Shakaho (Way of Destruction 31, Shot of Red Fire)!" Aeron shouted, and blasted a flaming red blast at the glacier.

It melted the entire glacier. And the cannons resumed fire.

"Sigh…things keep going…well…not our way," Axel said.

"Maybe it would make more sense if we-" began Luigi.

"Um, Luigi," I said. "Remember what Mario said yesterday?"

"Oh, yeah…" Luigi sighed. "Dang it. Okay, let me rephrase that. It would be _easier_ if we just froze the cannons, right?"

"I just did," Aeron said.

"I mean like you just ice each cannon individually," Luigi said.

"Oh yeah," Aeron said. "Duh, I should have realized that."

"Guys, can we just keep moving?" I asked.

"Oh yeah," Luigi said.

We ran across platforms, jumped up walls, and then we ended up at the Launch Star.

But as we went, I couldn't help noticing that the sensation was getting stronger. Something was waking…

* * *

_Elsewhere…_

"IS ANYONE ALIVE AND BREATHING OUT THERE?" Mario shouted.

* * *

_Back to where we were…_

Our next stop was a place that led into a station that was in better condition. However, our way in was blocked by electrical barriers.

Suddenly, electric barriers surrounded us. They closed in behind us, above us, even weaving themselves between each other. Red and green ones alternated, flooding the area with red, green, and yellow light.

"We're caught!" Aeron shouted.

"It was a trap," Axel said grimly.

"Guys, look!" I shouted.

Black portals appeared out of thin air. They quickly closed, but not before spilling out spinning tops with eyes and spikes on their heads. (That was the best description I could give.)

"Topmen!" Luigi shouted. "They're invulnerable to most of our attacks! Look out!"

"Why is it _always_ invulnerable people?" Axel wondered as he jumped out of the way of a Topman trying to ram him.

"So if they're invulnerable, how do we defeat them?" Aeron asked.

"They have a vulnerability to electricity, but we can't escape unless we smash them into the barriers!" Luigi shouted. "So…" He tried to spin a Topman as it tried to ram him, but the Topman got there first.

Luigi got smashed backwards into a barrier. "AaAaAaAaA!" he shouted as he got electrocuted. "Why, you-"

Luigi launched a counterattack and smashed the Topman backwards. He ran after the Topman and spun again, smashing the Topman further back. This went on until Luigi smashed him backwards and the Topman crashed into the electric barrier.

**ZZZZZZT!**

The Topman was electrified and exploded. Immediately, the red barriers overloaded, and they shorted out. Now there were only green barriers holding us.

"Get the other one!" Luigi shouted.

Axel kicked the Topman backwards. He suddenly brought up his sword. "Rule over the Midnight heavens…Shiruba-Getsu!"

Axel's sword morphed and turned into the silvery blue gauntlets. He suddenly slashed at the Topman. It held up against the attack, but suddenly it was jetted behind Axel at alarming speed.

I cried out in surprise and fell backwards. The Topman smashed into the electric barriers, and exploded. The green barriers shorted out and we were free.

"We can get in now!" Luigi said.

"How did you-?" I began.

"Shiruba-Getsu is made of vibrating reishi," Axel explained. "This gives it something of a chainsaw effect-5 million cycles in a second. While the Topman could stand against the blade cutting it, it was still flung back behind me by the chainsaw effect, as it got caught on a couple reishi particles."

Axel whipped around and strode towards the gate. "Now let's go. I have a feeling this is our only way out."

"But it's more of a way in," Luigi said.

"Whatever," Axel said. "Now let's go."

_

* * *

_

In the fortress…

"What _is_ this place?" Aeron growled. "It's acting all on its own…against us!"

Aeron sliced and hacked as lasers tried to blast us. He was working hard to not let a single one in.

"They'll never let up," Axel said. "So we've gotta give it our all."

"I AM GIVING IT MY ALL!" Aeron shouted, smashing another one aside. "But it doesn't matter what we do-hacking into the security system, blasting the laser shooters, running as fast as we can through a hail of them-nothing…_nothing_…will work! Luigi, got any ideas?" He smashed a laser into the wall.

"No," Luigi said. "Through my calculations, I can see no way for us to go on."

"We braved electric barriers, gravity switches, flamethrowers, disappearing floors, flooding hallways, horrible opera singing, and many other traps that I am forbidden to mention to save space, and we're being held down by _this_?" Axel said, getting annoyed. "Are there any other factors that you feel you may have left out?"

I was beginning to feel strange. Like I should be doing something…but I wasn't…

Suddenly, a laser blasted at Luigi and me.

"LOOK OUT!" Luigi shouted, and he tackled me away.

**ZOW!**

"AUGH!" Luigi cried as the laser smashed into his ankle.

"Luigi!" I cried.

I slowly pulled him over to cover from the laser fire. "Luigi, are you alright?"

"Ugh…I think so…" Luigi muttered.

"Screw it!" Axel shouted. "Aeron, short 'em out! Throw a lightning bolt at them!"

"Right!" Aeron shouted, and he raised his hand. A lightning bolt blasted out and struck one of the laser blasters.

But it resumed fire.

"Okay, that won't work," Axel said. "Any other ideas?"

Suddenly I thought of something. Lasers all need something to focus them…like a lens…and these were focused by…crystals!

But there wasn't much to think of from there…

Suddenly I noticed something. The crystals were seemingly screaming as the lasers were being shot through them…

_No, that can't be right. Crystals can't scream…_

Yet I heard it, loud and clear.

I raised my hand and kind of reached out towards the crystal.

Suddenly the lasers weren't firing anymore. I mean, they were, but now they were wide, unfocused flashlight-like blasts.

"What happened?" Aeron asked.

"Maybe the focusing crystal went wacko," Axel said. "Wait, how'd I know it was a crystal?"

"I don't know," Luigi said. "But anyway, could you guys get that coin over there?"

"Sure," Axel said, and he went over and grabbed a golden coin. "Here."

Luigi held it, and it suddenly glowed with golden energy and his ankle got healed. He stuffed the coin in his pocket and got up. "Let's keep going on," Axel said.

I stared at my hand. Emerald colored energy was glowing around it…

* * *

_Elsewhere again (where _is_ elsewere?)…_

"OKAY, WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG FOR SOMEONE TO COME AND TAKE ME TO SOMEWHERE WITH GRAVITY?" Mario shouted.

* * *

_Further into the fortress…_

"Now what have we gotten ourselves into?" growled Aeron as we ran from floors that were falling away. "Is this just not our day?"

"It would seem that way," Axel said, who seemed to have gotten over his annoyance over the lasers.

"Well, I've had enough!" Aeron declared. "Hama Hyoketsu!"

Aeron froze the entire floor, ensuring that it wouldn't fall anymore.

Only problem: it was now icy.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~" Luigi shouted, sliding across the floor and smashing into a wall.

"Whoops," Aeron said almost casually.

"Uh oh," I said.

_Slip._

**CRASH!**

"Ow…" I groaned, getting up.

"Guys, look! The Star should be close!" Axel shouted, pointing beyond some blast doors.

We ran towards the blast doors, but suddenly they closed.

"Uh oh," Luigi said, looking behind us.

There were Koopas with larger shells, green hats, and…hammers.

"A construction crew?" I asked, feeling stupid.

All of them raised their hammers.

"Nope, they're here for deconstruction," Aeron said.

"Run time," Axel said.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~"

We ran screaming through the hallways as the Koopas gave chase, throwing hammers.

"Why are we running?" Luigi asked.

"WHAT ELSE CAN WE DO?" Aeron shouted.

I was afraid of getting hit by their hammers, but there was something else I felt: shame. Why was I running? If I ran, that wouldn't do what I came here for…

I suddenly slammed my heel into the ground and pivoted quickly. That is pretty much one of the few things I can get right.

"Terra?" Luigi shouted, alarmed.

"I will _not_ back down!" I declared.

The Hammer Bros came closer…they prepared to throw their hammers…

**Krek-krek-krek-KRASH!**

The Hammer Bros stared in alarm at their completely destroyed hammers.

Emerald dust was everywhere.

"What in-?" Luigi began.

"I can't allow them to succeed," I said. "I have few friends. I can't let any of them get hurt. That's …"

The Hammer Bros got new hammers and prepared to throw them.

"…why…"

The Hammer Bros threw them.

"…I'll fight!"

The hammers suddenly were coated with emerald, rotated in midair, and then suddenly…they spun back towards the ones who had thrown them!

The Hammer Bros were so shocked they couldn't avoid them. The hammers hit dead on.

Before they could get back up, I ran over to where they were and jumped up into the air, raising my fist.

"HAAAAAHHH!"

My fist collided with the floor between all of them.

**BLAAAAAAMM!**

The floor shook, and shook, and shook…but strangely, I didn't feel any harm in it. The Hammer Bros sure did, though. They were smashed by it, and they all exploded into Star Bits.

I slowly got up. "I won't let you hurt my friends," I said. "I won't have any of it."

I turned back to my friends. They all looked awed.

"How did you…do all that?" Luigi asked.

"I really don't know…" I suddenly felt very tired, and I toppled towards the floor.

Aeron caught me before I hit.

I looked up at him. "Was I able to protect you?" I asked.

"I think I could have done it just fine," he said. "But thanks."

I got up slowly. For the second time. "Come on, guys. Let's go…for our friends."

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

"HEEEEELLLLPPP!" Mario shouted out into space.

* * *

_To our final destination…_

Axel smashed a Topman against the red barriers, and they shorted out. "And that's all. Now, let's head to the control room. The Star is there."

We walked through the door that had been blocked, and we were immediately greeted with a sight of the Star.

"Unguarded?" Aeron said, frowning. "This can't be right…"

We walked forward into the room. "It's like they _want_ us to take it," Luigi said.

I reached out for the Star. "I can just take it-"

"No, Terra, STOP!" Axel suddenly grabbed me and yanked me backwards.

"Ah!" I cried in surprised.

Axel suddenly pointed his finger at the Star. "Getsu Taiho (Moon Cannon)!"

Axel's finger pulled in radiant lines of light in rings around it. Then, his finger flashed and he fired many, _many_ blasts of silvery blue energy at the Star.

They zoomed right through the Star.

"I knew it," Axel said. "It's a hologram! And that means…"

"This was a trap, too," Luigi said grimly.

"And we probably won't be walking out," Axel said, looking back at the exits.

Electricity strung itself around the exits.

"Wha-? We can't get out!" I cried. "Aeron, can't you do anything?"

No reply.

"Aeron?"

Still silence.

"Aeron, please say something!" I turned towards him, to find him staring, shocked, up…

I slowly turned. "Oh…my…"

Standing above us was…a giant robot. It had orbs in place of hands, and mounted on its back was a massive missile launcher. It looked like it could literally smash us to pieces.

"It's incredible…" Luigi said.

"It's going to crush us…" Axel said.

"AH!" we all shouted.

We dove out of the way as the robot smashed its massive orbs into the ground, trying to crush us.

The robot slowly got up and turned towards us, its eyes flashing red. _"Enemy identified. _Starsmasher_ moving to intercept."_

"This thing definitely means business," Axel said.

"We'll give it business!" Aeron shouted.

* * *

**Boss: Starsmasher**

Axel and Aeron ran as Starsmasher blasted missiles at them. The missiles crashed into the ground and exploded.

"We can't let it hit us!" Axel shouted, jumping on top of some computer consoles and running across them. "Even though you and I are highly resistant, it'll still suck to get hit by a weapon of that caliber!"

"I know!" Aeron shouted. "But how do we destroy it?"

Starsmasher put its orbs together and they glowed with white energy. It charged forward, trying to smash into Luigi and me.

"Whoa!" Luigi shouted.

I raised my hand, and emeralds crusted themselves over my fingers. "I'll hold it off! You calculate a way to defeat it!" I shouted.

Emerald energy flared through my body, and then blasted out of the emeralds on my fingers to form extraordinarily long energy blades.

I gazed at it in surprise for a moment, and then attacked Starsmasher. I ran forward and began to slash at him.

Starsmasher's armor was much too hard for my blades. But I still kept it up.

Starsmasher suddenly ran forward fast, trying to run me over. I dodged between his legs and tried to slash his back, but then he suddenly whirled with alarming speed and smashed me with an orb that pulsed with white energy.

"Augh…" I groaned as I went flying. It hurt a lot.

"What can we do?" Axel asked as he dodged another missile. "Sazanami no Tsuki!"

The massive robot raised its arms and they glowed, and a shield was projected that blocked the attack.

"It seems that Starsmasher can create a shield that is impervious to many attacks," Luigi said. "Terra's energy blades won't work, or Axel's Sazanami no Tsuki, or even-"

Aeron shouted and sent a barrage of lightning bolts at Starsmasher, to no avail. Starsmasher's shield blocked every single one of them.

"-or even that," Luigi said. "But it seems that it can be defeated by…shadow power!"

"But we don't have that!" I shouted frantically.

"Yes, we do," Axel said firmly. He raised his hand, and blue-black energy accumulated around it. "I have never enjoyed using shadow. But we have no choice now."

Axel raced forward and brought his fist back in a punch.

Starsmasher put its orbs together, projected a shield, and charged towards Axel.

Axel's fist zoomed forward and…pierced the shield.

Axel's fist smashed into Starsmasher, smashing it backwards. It lay on the ground, dazed. But there were lights flashing on it. And its orbs were flickering.

"It's going to put that shield back up!" Aeron shouted.

"I won't let it!" Luigi ran forward and smashed Starsmasher with a spin attack.

There was a sparking sound, and something strange happened with Starsmasher. It got back up and put up a new shield, but this one was a mottled purple.

"It's shadow!" Luigi shouted. "Starsmasher's shield is adaptable, so now shadow can't affect him!"

Starsmasher roared and began to fire warheads at us. I saw one flaring towards me. "No!" I shouted, and sent an emerald spiraling at the missile.

**BOOOOM!**

The missile exploded instantly on contact.

Starsmasher ran forward, this time trying to get Axel. Axel swiftly dodged and then slashed with his blades. But Starsmasher suddenly whirled and smashed its fists into the ground. Axel had to run to not get crushed.

Starsmasher smashed its orbs together and roared, then ran towards Aeron.

"Shadow, eh?" Aeron asked. "Let's try this, then."

"Aeron!" Luigi shouted. "It's a two-layer shield! This means you'll have to hit it twice."

Aeron looked at him and nodded. He pointed his finger at Starsmasher, and energy began to pull in.

"No, Aeron!" I shouted. "Shinsei Bakuha won't work here! It's not strong enough!"

"What are you talking about?" Aeron asked. "You got that last word wrong. It's not Shinsei Bakuha. It's…"

Three green lines pulled into the energy at Aeron's finger tips, and a golden nimbus surrounded the energy already there. Then three more green ones pulled themselves in, and three more after that.

"Shinsei…Taiho (Nova Cannon)!" Aeron shouted, and blasted a massive "beam" (quotations put in because it had a diameter twice as wide as Aeron is tall) of green and gold that smashed into Starsmasher.

It pierced both shields and knocked Starsmasher on its back. Luigi ran over and spun it as its orbs flickered.

Starsmasher got up again and roared, and created a red shield.

"This…" Luigi's eyes widened. "No…none of our attacks will work on it! It's…geared against energy!"

"Uhh…translation?" Axel asked.

"Nothing will work that either of you have," said Luigi. "Because your attacks are all energy based, and using your swords is out of the question. The only thing that can affect it is immense kinetic force…"

"Like an earthquake?" Aeron asked.

"Wait, what do earthquakes have to do with kinetic force?" Axel interrupted.

"Yes, an earthquake might work," Luigi said. "But we don't…"

"_I'll_ do it!" I shouted. "I think…back when we battled the Hammer Bros…I made one! That's what the shaking was!"

"Can you do it?" Luigi asked. "This shield is triple layered. It'll take three hits."

"Hey!" Aeron shouted. "The _last_ shield set he generated was double layered, and it only took me one attack to break both of them!"

"Well, Terra's getting used to her powers," Luigi said. "I'm saying it might not work. And besides…"

Starsmasher suddenly roared and jumped into the air, and then robotic arms grabbed it. Then they fitted onto its back…

"A _second_ missile launcher?" Axel said, alarmed.

"We can't get close to it if it has two," Luigi said.

Starsmasher dropped down from the robotic arms and landed on the ground, roaring loudly.

"I can do it!" I shouted, and ran forward towards Starsmasher.

But Starsmasher leveled its missile launchers at me, and began firing them.

Aeron grabbed me and lifted me upwards before they could hit.

"Luigi was right," I said. "We can't get close to it."

"We _can_!" Axel said. "Aeron and I will defend you against the missiles and its attacks! You get ready to hit its shield when there's an opening! Right, Aeron?"

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, we'll do it. Let's go!" Axel ran off.

"Hey, don't I have any say in our actions?" Aeron shouted, running after him.

Starsmasher leveled its missile launchers yet again and began firing.

Axel and Aeron sent their own attacks at the missiles, destroying them in midair. I ran towards Starsmasher. Without its missiles, there was no way it could keep me from getting close.

Starsmasher started throwing punches with the orbs. I blocked them with my energy blades. Then it put up its shield and charged.

_Now! _I brought back my fist and charged. "HAAAAAAHHH!"

**KRESH!**

I stared as my punch smashed through two of the shields and rocked the entire base. Even Starsmasher was rocked by it. But it put up its remaining shield and began backing up, firing missiles.

Axel blasted the missiles down in midair with his Getsu Taihos. Aeron raced forward, grabbed my hand, and ran towards Starsmasher, using his sword as a shield against Starsmasher's attacks.

"Ready, Terra?" Aeron shouted.

"Yes!" I cried.

"NOW!" Aeron shouted, throwing me towards Starsmasher. I concentrated all my power into my foot and kicked towards Starsmasher.

Starsmasher raised its shield, being too slow to dodge sideways or crouch or even jump.

"HAAAAAAHHH!"

**KRESH!**

The base rocked from the force of my attack. Starsmasher was smashed backwards, the pieces of its shattered shield scattering.

Starsmasher began to get back up, but its body couldn't take the strain from getting hit by Axel's shadow punch, Aeron's Shinsei Taiho, and two seismic waves. It fell, and its lights flickered out.

Starsmasher was defeated. It exploded.

The Star floated up out of its ruins and flew to the center of the room.

Luigi ran over and grabbed it. "We did it! And it's all thanks to…Terra."

"Me?" I asked. "But I…"

"The day couldn't have been won without you, Terra," Aeron said. "Thanks."

I was silent. And then I felt happy. "I protected my friends, then," I said. "Thank you, all of you. You gave me the courage to do it."

"Anytime," Axel said. "Now, let's get back to Starship Mario."

**WE GOT A STAR!**

**

* * *

**

However, as we headed back to Starship Mario, I felt extremely tired. I began to faint.

Aeron caught me. "Are you alright?"

I nodded weakly. "How…how did I get that power?"

Aeron looked at me, surprised. "How did you get it? Here's the answer: You had it."

"Wh-what?"

"In this world, there are four dimensions in space. Most exist in the first three. But the fourth…is home to the spirits."

"Spirits?" I asked.

"Yes. Some people in this world are born into the fourth dimension. This gives them spiritual power."

"But I never was able to do this until now…"

"Those powers were dormant until now," Aeron said. "And your strong desire to protect your friends allowed you to awaken them."

"Was it me who…caused the focusing crystals to…go weird?" I asked.

But I never got to hear his answer, because I fainted from exhaustion.

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

"SCREW IT, SOMEONE, COME HERE SO I CAN RIP YOUR FACE OFF!" Mario shouted.


	8. The Tower of the Topman Tribe

**As we went deeper into the Cosmos, well…things started getting hectic.**

**Including a tower that was given caffeine to speed everything up…**

**What-? N-no! I…I didn't say anything! I just…oh look, just read on.**

* * *

**Traveler's Log Entry 07: The Tower of the Topman Tribe**

**Stars (I decided to start counting our Stars after the mission was over): 6**

**Mario**

* * *

I returned to Starship Mario in a bad mood. And I was even more furious when I found Axel, Luigi and Aeron sitting around drinking tea or whatever.

"Hey, he finally came back!" said Axel.

"WHY DID YOU GUYS LEAVE ME FLOATING IN SPACE?" I shouted, furious. "I WAS SPENDING, LIKE, FOREVER THERE! IF IT WEREN'T FOR THE FACT THAT I'VE LOCATED ANOTHER STAR, IT WOULD'VE BEEN FOR NOTHING!"

"You located a Star?" Aeron asked, looking up.

"Yeah!" I said proudly. "It's in a tower in space. And the way to get there is…hey, where's Terra?"

"She fainted on our way back," Luigi said. "She went through a lot during our mission. So we put her in the sleeping quarters. She's resting right now. We'll tell you what you missed. But first, we're going back out there. To the Battle Blaster Galaxy."

"What?" I asked, shocked. "Going out? Where?"

"We're going to get that Star you saw," Luigi said. "So let's go."

"After you left me floating out there with nothing to do?" I shouted. "WHAT KIND OF TEAMATES ARE YOU?"

"Ones who care about the Universe," Axel said casually. "And PS, it isn't our fault you blasted off course."

"Well still!" I shouted. "Can't we have a rest? I'm still cramped from just sitting in space!"

"We had a rest already, and you don't even _want_ to know what we've been through," said Aeron. "Now let's go."

I glared at him with a murderous look the entire time as they brought up the Launch Star again. None of them paid any attention whatsoever, though.

"Prepare for blastoff!" Aeron said. "We've got to keep going on."

"You don't think about me," I grumbled.

* * *

We arrived at the place with cannons blasting in random directions. However, this time they were blasting at an ultra fast pace.

"Whoa…" Luigi said.

"Here we go!" I shouted, and I ran through the cannon fire. Only to get hit by a cannonball.

"OWW!" I shouted. "Why, you-"

Suddenly, everything around me turned monochromatic. The cannons began to fire very slowly. I turned.

Axel, Aeron and Luigi were all still normally colored. Luigi was coming out of a Ground Pound…on top of a switch that had a "!" on it.

"There was a ! Switch here?" I asked, surprised.

"Yep," Luigi said. "Now, let's keep moving."

We ran towards the other wall, avoiding slow-mo cannonballs as we went.

Axel reached another ! Switch when suddenly, color returned.

"Aw, crap," Luigi said.

Immediately, the cannonballs and cannons sped up to their regular pace. We were forced to do extreme dodging maneuvers. (Don't EVEN get me started on the "Do a Barrel Roll!" stuff.)

"There's no end to these things!" I shouted.

Axel quickly hit the ! Switch. Everything went monochromatic again, and we were able to safely cross to where he was.

"Whoa…this isn't as easy as I thought…"I said.

"Everything's sped up," Luigi said. "We'll have to be careful."

So we went on, hitting ! Switches. This went on until we reached the Launch Star. We went off towards the tower.

"Whoa…" Axel said.

"Mama Mia…" Luigi said.

The Tower was really amazing, but also didn't look like a place you wanted to be. It was mostly chrome and black, with red highlights. However, what looked like transparent metal prevented us from entering the Tower. And ahead of us were sets of rotating belts. They were also moving very fast, and Amps raced laterally over the belts. Electric barriers barred our way, and bubble cannons blasted their hearts out.

High up above, beyond the barrier that separated us from the tower itself, cannons blasted down at us, their attacks flashing downwards quickly. Thwomps slammed up and down at lightning speed. Spikes shot out of the floor, and platforms whirled around the tower, going so fast sparks flew as they ground against their rails.

"There it is, everyone," I said. "This is Topman's Tower."

"But they already had a tower," Luigi said.

"Well, they got themselves a new one," I said. "And apparently, they did a better job of making defenses this time."

"Let's go," Aeron said, obviously not getting effected by the tower the way the other two were. He ran onto one of the rotating belts.

It carried him extremely fast into a wall.

"WAAAAAHHHH!" Aeron shouted.

**SPLACK!**

"Ow…" Aeron muttered.

Axel peeled him off the wall and ran out onto one of the belts. Although the belts went extremely fast, Axel was slowly gaining ground.

Suddenly, a cannonball fell towards him as he went.

"LOOK OUT!" Luigi shouted.

Axel noticed and jumped onto a second belt which went the _other_ way. It suddenly carried him forward and towards an electric barrier.

Noticing it barely in time, Axel jumped over the electric barrier, over a second, and dodged an Amp. "Way too fast, even for my tastes. Let's change that."

His foot lashed out and smashed down on a ! Switch. Everything went monochromatic and slow-mo.

"Let's keep moving," Luigi said, and we ran after Axel. "Oh no…there's a cage wall in front of us!"

Axel grabbed a lever and yanked it downwards. Part of the cage wall slowly dragged out of our way.

"Let's keep moving, people," Aeron said. We ran through the opening, but then time went back to normal.

"CRAAAAAAPPP!" I shouted as we blasted backwards into an electric barrier.

**ZZZZZZTTTT!**

"AaAaAaAaA!" we shouted as we got electrocuted.

"Ow, sheesh," Luigi said. "That sucked…"

Aeron jumped onto another belt and then…got trapped by a bubble that was blasting out into space.

"WHAT THE HECK?" Aeron shouted.

The bubble burst…over the void.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAA~"

Aeron reappeared at the starting point. "Well that sucked," he said.

I suddenly looked high above us. There was someone up there…

"Okay, listen up, all of you," that someone was saying. "I'll get the airship and bring it here to pick up the Star. In the meantime, you must _not_ let it get into the hands of Mario and his peoples."

"I HEARD THAT!" I shouted.

The person looked down at me. "NOBODY ASKED YOU!" he shouted back. "God, I suck at being a commander. 'Cause I hate speaking formally."

"YEAH, YOU DO!" I shouted. "WHO SPENDS THEIR TIME COMMANDING TOPS?"

Suddenly I noticed something. "Hey, wait…he looks like…"

The guy's eyes narrowed, and suddenly he was gone.

"Wha-?" I stared at where he once was. "Where'd he go?" _And why did he look like…me?_

Axel jumped over a bubble, dodged an Amp, and smashed a lever. "The next cage wall thingy is opening!" he called.

"Uh…r-right!" I shouted, and ran past a bubble cannon.

Suddenly, I got caught in a bubble.

"CRAP!" I shouted.

**BURST!**

The bubble suddenly popped as Luigi broke it with a spin.

"Watch out," he said. "If you get caught in a bubble, spin as soon as possible. That's the easiest way to escape."

"Right," I said. Like I said, Luigi can be SO smart sometimes! (But try to focus on the "sometimes.)

"I'm going on ahead," Axel said. He jumped over a belt and raced through the door. Amps raced across his path, and cannonballs rained down.

"Watch out for the cannonballs!" Luigi called.

"It's no big deal," Axel said, jumping over a cannonball. "The cannons are kind of low, though. You could blow one of them up from here-here, I'll show you. Hado 31: Shakaho (Way of Destruction 31, Shot of Red Fire)!"

Axel generated a sphere of red energy and then blasted red flame at one of the cannons. But then…

Volts filled the space between the tower and us. A wall of electricity materialized in front of the Shakaho, causing it to explode.

"Hm…seems we can't hit them after all," Axel said. "And that also means we can't enter Topman's Tower this way. Let's keep moving."

Axel ran over more rotating belts, and Aeron ran after him, leaving Luigi and me trailing behind.

"Hey, wait up!" Luigi shouted, jumping over an Amp and dodging a cannonball. "Come on, Mario!"

"I'm going!" I shouted, annoyed that I was the shortest out of the entire group, and thus couldn't move as fast.

Axel and Aeron ran towards a Sentry Beam at the end of the rotating belts. It noticed their presence and immediately blasted out a wave of electricity.

"Easy," Aeron said, jumping over it.

But then the Sentry Beam sent another one. Aeron landed directly on it.

**ZZZZZZZZTTT!**

"AaAaAaAaA!" Aeron shouted. "Why you little-Die (explicative removed)!" He started attacking it to no avail.

"You idiot, it's preparing another wave," Axel said

"DIE!" Aeron shouted, jumping on it.

**BOING!**

"WAAAAAAH!" Aeron shouted as he was hurled into the air by the springy top of the Sentry Beam.

"Hey, cool!" Axel shouted, and he jumped on it as well. Luigi and I followed.

We ended up seeing a pool of lava with a platform sitting at its edge.

"Let's get on," Luigi said, and he strode onto the platform.

Suddenly, an alarm sounded and the platform began to shake.

"Whoa-oa-oa-what's happening?" Luigi shouted as he tried to stay upright.

"EVERYONE GET ON!" I shouted when I realized what would happen.

We all jumped on as the platform started to move away from where we were before.

Suddenly I saw ahead Sentry Beams with spikes on their tops on platforms floating in the lava. "Everyone jump!" I shouted.

We all jumped as waves of electricity blasted out at us from several directions at once.

"The Topman tribe sure did a better job of guarding it this time!" Luigi commented, jumping over another wave.

"We can handle it," Axel said. "We've handled worse, right?"

The platform stopped at another one that was slightly larger in area, with no sentry beams in sight; however, there was no platform leading away from it, and as soon as we jumped on it, the platform that we had rode on to get there went back the way it came, leaving us behind.

"No!" Luigi shouted.

"Hey, there's a rift opening," Aeron said.

We turned and saw a Topman exiting a rift as it closed.

"Get him!" I shouted, and ran towards it.

The Topman spun and charged, sending me spinning backwards into the lava.

"HAHAHAHAAAAA!" I shouted as I jumped out of the lava. My butt was on fire! (And everyone says my screaming sounds like laughing.)

"YOU DIE!" I shouted, spinning the Topman into the lava.

Immediately, a platform came from the other end of the platform and stopped in front of us.

We jumped on and dodged more Sentry Beams, eventually getting to a wider platform again. Suddenly, the platform we used to get there went away again and two Topmen arrived to fight.

"YOU DIE!" I shouted, and attacked the Topmen. But both of them started sending me spinning, and eventually I fell into the lava again.

"HAHAHAHAAAAA!"

"Sigh…we gotta do everything…"Axel muttered as he kicked a Topman into the Lava. Luigi kicked the other one into the lava.

"HEY, STUFF LIKE THIS HAPPENS!" I shouted. "Everyone makes mistakes!"

"You make them 24/7," Aeron replied. "Our ticket out of here's arrived, let's go."

We dodged more Sentry Beams and finally arrived at the edge of the Lava pool: a large platform.

Aeron sighed as he stepped onto the platform. "We are so gonna get attacked…"

As if on cue, three Topmen appeared.

"I'll get all of them," Aeron said. "Shinsei Taiho!"

Aeron blasted a green-gold beam of energy at the Topmen, knocking them off the platform and into random places.

"They are immune to damage," Aeron said. "But not propulsion into space. Hey, what's that?"

A red Ground-Pound Switch appeared. It had a little explosion on it or something.

"Let's do it!" Luigi shouted, slamming the button.

I don't know if it was such a great idea.

Immediately, the entire rotating belt section and several plates on the tower fell away, revealing a way in. But the cannons still fired into space.

"Let's-a go!" I shouted, jumping towards the tower.

**ZZZZZZZTTT!**

"AaAaAaAaAaA!" I shouted as I got shocked. Apparently, I forgot about the invisible electric wall.

"Hey, there's a gap down here!" Axel called, jumping down and landing on a platform I had never noticed. Axel ran in and began jumping and climing girders.

"Seems they didn't go for quality," Luigi said, grabbing onto a girder and jumping off of it to grab one that took him higher up.

"Hey, guys?" I asked. "Why does this wall have a face on it?"

"I don't know," said Aeron.

Suddenly, the wall began to shake.

"AH!" I shouted. "It's a Pushy Wall!"

Too late. The wall shunted forward, pushing us into the electric wall.

**ZZZZZZZTTT!**

"AaAaAaAaAaA!" we shouted as we got shocked.

"Well that sucked," Aeron said as the wall receded.

"Yeah," I said. "Let's keep moving."

We jumped after Axel and Luigi to find them standing in front of a Thwomp, which was slamming down too quickly for them to move on.

"Well, any ideas?" Axel asked.

"We could jump over it," Luigi said.

"It would move up too high too quickly," Axel said. "Are there any of those switches that slow down time?"

"I think there was one," I said. I ran into a doorway that just happened to be open and slammed a ! Switch.

MONOCHROMATISM!

"Let's go!" Axel shouted, and he jumped underneath the Thwomp and away.

"Hallujah!" Luigi shouted, jumping after him. (Yeah…I don't get it, either.)

"Whatever!" Aeron shouted, jumping after them.

"Wait for me, guys!" I shouted, and I dove through just before the Thwomp came down.

"Hey, there are holes here…" Luigi said, looking at the ground.

"AH!" we all shouted, and we jumped away before the spikes could come out.

"They've really guarded it heavily!" Luigi said as he dove underneath and past a falling Thwomp.

Suddenly time went back to normal.

"LUIGI!" Axel shouted. "Great, now we're trapped here.

"I'll get through!" I shouted, and dove through at exactly the right time.

Somehow, I managed to football tackle a Topman into the electric wall.

"Nice!" Luigi said. "But can the others get here?"

Suddenly, we noticed two cannons in the wall.

"AH!" we both shouted and dashed away as the cannons fired.

"Run away!" Luigi shouted as the cannons continued to fire.

"Wait for me!" I shouted as I weaved in between the cannons. Unlike the ones on the starting planet, these fired neatly in the same direction.

"HEY!" we heard.

We looked and saw a Gearmo there.

"Can you get over here?" he called.

"Sure!" Luigi shouted, jumping over spikes and diving past a Thwomp. I followed. "Can we help you?" Luigi asked.

"This tower was abandoned a long time ago until the Topman Tribe came. Now I'm supposed to be maintaining the place, but the systems are all out of whack. The cannons keep firing, and I can't stop 'em." The Gearmo gestured at a bolt beyond two cannons. "I can't move fast, and those cannons fire much faster, so can you screw that bolt in over there?"

"Sure," Luigi said. "Ready, Mario?"

"Right!" I shouted, and we dashed forward, dodging cannon fire as we went.

Luigi dove under a cannonball and flipped out of the way of another, landing on top of the bolt. "Now!" he shouted, and he spun, screwing the bolt in.

Immediately, red doors slid in front of the cannons, preventing them from firing.

"There we go!" Luigi said. "Now then, can you tell us how to get to the Star?"

"Don't kill the green Topmen, how about?" the Gearmo said. "They're actually springs, so they'll help you get to where you need to go. Look, one's appearing right now."

Two tiny yellow Topmen and one green Topman appeared. They immediately attacked.

I spun the tiny yellow ones away and let them explode into Star Bits. Then I spun the green one into the electric wall as Axel and Aeron arrived.

"YOU IDIOT!" the Gearmo shouted. "I TOLD YOU _NOT_ TO ATTACK THE GREEN ONE!"

"Whoops," I said as another green Topman and two more tiny yellow ones appeared. I jumped onto the green one and was immediately sent flying upwards to a higher platform, where up ahead, more dull blue and orange platforms circled the tower.

"Okay, let's do this!" I shouted as I hit the ! Switch.

The platforms slowed down, but I could now see that Amps were also on the rails, moving through hollow portions of the moving platforms. It was not going to be easy.

I jumped onto a blue platform, then jumped up to avoid an orange one. (The orange ones were going clockwise, and the blue ones were going counter-clockwise.) Then I jumped onto an orange one and jumped onto a stationary platform sitting out in space before time went back to normal.

"This is easy!" I shouted, ground-pounding the ! Switch.

As time slowed down again, I jumped onto an orange platform, bounced off it onto a blue one, grabbed the next orange platform, and jumped onto the stationary platforms at the top of the tower. Then I strode into the center of the tower's summit.

"I got to the top of Topman's Tower!" I shouted.

Suddenly, the sides raised up, and electricity surged through them just as Luigi, Axel and Aeron jumped in. It zoomed upwards, trapping us in a cylinder of electricity that ended at the bottom of some planet above us.

"Why is it we _always _walk into traps?" Axel muttered.

"Maybe we just suck at avoiding them," Aeron said as two red Topmen appeared.

"Defeat them!" Luigi shouted. He spun one into the electric wall, causing it to explode. Then Axel smashed the other one into another part of the wall, causing that one to explode.

A Green Topman appeared and attacked us. We quickly jumped on top of him and blasted upwards into a Sling Star, which blasted us out of the electric cylinder and onto a UFO's underside.

There were _many_ Topmen and electric barriers there.

"Hey, you know, this seems kind of familiar…" Luigi said.

"Yeah, you're right. Where have we seen this before?" I asked.

"Ah…Axel? Aeron? Where did you guys go?" Luigi suddenly asked.

They were gone.

We looked around, and saw a trail of destroyed Topmen leading off somewhere.

"Oh…" Luigi said.

So we followed the trail of destroyed Topmen and got onto the top side of the planet to find-

*insert record scratch here*

"HUH?" Luigi and I stared.

Axel, Aeron, and some redheaded girl that I couldn't identify were sitting around some table drinking tea. And also eating cake.

"WHAT ARE YOU FOOLS DOING?" I shouted.

"Hey, this is pretty good tea," Axel said.

(The idiot up there has paid me to say that he thanks Ice Princess Rinna, some other author on Fanfiction, for giving him the idea and allowing him to use Ice Princess Rinna's OC.)

"Huh?" Aeron said. "Why are you guys looking so ticked off?"

"Who the heck is this girl?" Luigi demanded. "She's not supposed to be in this story!"

"Well, I'm taking a break while the person who pays me to be in some story writes the next chapter," the girl said. "So yeah."

"Why do I feel like Ben's gonna make a cameo?" Axel asked.

"Due to his obsession with cake and his desire to appear in this story, I figure he's going to make a cameo and take the rest of our cake," Aeron said.

"Well, let's hope he doesn't," Rinna said. "This is really good cake."

"Rinna, by the way," Axel said. "Who made the tea…and the cake?"

"Oh, that would be-"

Luigi and I couldn't take it anymore.

"FOCUS!" Luigi and I shouted, our heads becoming enormous like they did in anime).

Axel, Aeron, and the girl who I believe is called Rinna were getting blown back by the yelling.

"AAAAAAAAHHH~BUT I WAS JUST ABOUT TO MAKE A CAMEO! DON'T BLOW ME AWAY…" some guy shouted as he got blown away.

"AAAAAAAA~" Rinna shouted as she went flying into some swirly portal thingy, along with the table, the cake and the tea set.

"AH! MY TEA SET!" some female voice shouted.

**KRESH!**

There was a sound of breaking porcelain.

"Ow…" Rinna's voice said.

"M-m-m-m-my-my-my-my tea set!" the female voice shouted. "Oh…"

**THWUMP!**

"Lynne-chan!" another female voice shouted. "Are you alright? Lynne-chan! Lynne-chan!"

"Sheesh, Yoshika," came Rinna's voice. "She only fainted. Why're you getting so worked up?"

"Well, yeah, I guess you're right…by the way, Rinna, what happened to that cake I made?"

"Um…"

The swirly portal thingy closed, and we couldn't hear them anymore.

"Aw, that was good tea," Axel said.

"Yeah, and the cake tasted good," Aeron said.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO FOOLS DOING?" Luigi shouted. "WE HAVE A UNIVERSE TO SAVE AND ALL YOU DO IS SIT AROUND AND DRINK TEA!"

"You yell too loudly, Luigi!" complained Aeron.

Axel just sat there. Then he reached up and took his headphones off. "I'm sorry, I wasn't listening. Come again?" he asked.

"Ergh…" Luigi muttered something and jumped over an electric barrier. "Come on guys, let's go."

"Here we go!" I shouted, running after him. We ran up some steps and then found a circular place at the top. Surrounded by electric barriers.

"This seems familiar," I said, jumping into the circular area. "I have a feeling we'll be meeting-"

"Mario, look up!" Aeron shouted, alarmed.

I looked up to see a large black top zooming towards me. "WHOA!" I shouted, and I jumped away.

The top hit the ground and began to spin. There were several colored highlights on its rim, and the top of it had a large green circle.

Suddenly, the circle popped upwards and became red, and blades popped out of the top's sides! And bright orange eyes glared at me! It was…

"I should have known who it was if the Topman Tribe was here!" Luigi shouted.

"It's Topmaniac!" I shouted.

* * *

**Boss: Topmaniac**

Topmaniac spun away from me, and black rifts appeared. Two tiny yellow Topmen spilled out and immediately tried to ram me.

"Take this!" Aeron shouted, and smashed the Micro Topmen (that's what the yellow ones are called) with his sword, instantly destroying them.

Topmaniac zoomed towards us instantaneously, and we had to jump to get away from his blades. He then proceeded to attack Aeron.

Aeron raised his blade to parry, but Topmaniac's spinning blades crashed against his. Sparks flew as they tried to hold their ground.

"Sparks?" Aeron said. "Just how fast are those blades moving?"

Axel, Shikai released, jumped towards Topmaniac and slashed. His blades weren't generating sparks, strangely.

Axel frowned. "So his blades rotate at…4.5 to 4.8 cycles per second. That should be easy."

Axel pushed harder against Topmaniac's blades. And I could see that he was beginning to cut through them.

Topmaniac realized what was happening and pulled back immediately, trying to mow down Aeron.

"Whoa!" Aeron shouted, jumping out of there. "Let's try this, then. Shinsei Taiho!"

Aeron fired his beam of green-gold energy at Topmaniac, but Topmaniac zoomed away before it could hit.

"Luigi, do you think I'll be able to land it right?" I asked.

"Try not to miss," Luigi said.

I jumped towards Topmaniac…trying to jump _on top_ of him.

Topmaniac realized what would happen and zoomed away. But there was something he didn't count on.

"Mario, now!" Luigi shouted.

"Right!" I shouted.

I pulled out my hammer and smashed it down on the button-like thing on top of Topmaniac. (If you didn't know I had a hammer, you've never heard about how we defeated the Dark Star.)

Topmaniac's button was slammed down, deactivating his blades. The button turned green and his eyes blacked out.

"I got him!" I shouted.

"Now! Give me the hammer!" Luigi shouted.

"You have your own, remember?" I reminded him, annoyed.

"Oh yeah." Luigi pulled out his own hammer and brought it behind him. "HIIIIIIIIII-YAAAAAA!"

**THWAM!**

Luigi smashed Topmaniac with the hammer, sending him flying into the electric barrier. Topmaniac was immediately overloaded, but quickly recovered and went flying into the air.

"He's going to attack again!" Aeron shouted.

Topmaniac came down, new blades spinning. Four Micro-Topmen spilled out of rifts and attacked us.

"Get 'em!" Luigi shouted, and he smashed one flat with his hammer.

"This is easy!" I shouted, kicking two Micro-Topmen at Topmaniac. They were instantly destroyed by his blades.

"Now let's get him!" Axel shouted, slamming the last one somewhere. He attacked Topmaniac, but Topmaniac suddenly jumped up and hopped over Axel's attack.

Axel quickly ducked to avoid getting beheaded. Topmaniac came bearing down on Luigi and Aeron.

"Stop him!" Luigi shouted.

"Get him!" Aeron shouted.

"I just said that!" Luigi shouted.

"Not word for word!" Aeron shouted.

"Shut up!" Luigi shouted.

"Whatever!" Aeron shouted.

Axel and I attacked Topmaniac. Axel began clashing with Topmaniac.

"Hm…so it's going at 4.8 to 5.0 cycles per second…" Axel seemed kind of worried.

"We can take him!" I shouted.

Axel and Topmaniac pushed against each others' blades. Axel was slowly gaining ground, but at an extremely slow pace.

Topmaniac suddenly whirled past him and at me.

"Whoa!" I shouted, and jumped out of the way. Topmaniac pivoted and went back at me.

"Take this!" I shouted, jumping over his blades and ground-pounding.

Topmaniac immediately blacked out and Axel smashed him into the electric wall. But then Topmaniac recovered and came back at us, this time summoning two Spiky Topmen (the red ones) to fight us.

"The blades are moving at 5.0 to 5.3 million cycles per second. This is bad…" Axel muttered.

Aeron smashed the Spiky Topmen into the walls. "We're just going to have to find a way to get him without having to worry about the blades."

"Luigi!" I shouted. "We're going to need something special this time! Bring out the Jump Helmet!"

"Right!" Luigi shouted. He reached into his pocket and pulled out…a helmet with a trampoline.

"WTF?" Axel said.

"Here we go!" I shouted, and I jumped up into the air.

Luigi put the helmet on, raced underneath me and then aligned himself so I landed perfectly on the star that decorated the helmet. I sprang off high into the air.

"Fool!" Aeron shouted. "YOU'RE HEADING STRAIGHT FOR THE ELECTRIC BARRIER!"

Luigi quickly ran underneath me and jumped, sending me bouncing off the trampoline.

"What is that?" Axel wondered. "It's like a helmet that's actually a trampoline."

"That's _exactly_ what it is," Luigi shouted, jumping and bouncing me into the air off the star design three more times.

"One last time should do it!" I shouted. I came down…

"Here we go!" Luigi shouted, putting himself under me and angling the trampoline slightly.

"WAHOO!" I shouted, blasting upwards…and courtesy of Luigi's angle, straight towards Topmaniac.

Topmaniac realized what would happen and sped away. However, I had an ace in the hole.

I did a Ground-Pound from high up in the air. Topmaniac dodged it, and I landed…on the trampoline.

"Oh god…"Aeron said.

I went flying up SO HIGH I nearly exited the gravity field. But then…

"SUPER MEGA GROUND POUND!" I shouted.

I spun and then suddenly did my ground pound. Topmaniac sped away…but then I went shooting down towards the ground like a red meteor. And straight towards Topmaniac.

There was no way he could dodge at that speed, so I smashed down on the button perfectly. Topmaniac couldn't take the attack and got crushed.

**BOOOOM!**

"And it's over!" I shouted.

The Star floated out of Topmaniac's ruins.

"That was kind of easy," Axel said.

"It's our sixth Star!" Aeron shouted. "And you know what that means…"

**TECHNO**

**DANCE**

**PARTY**

Everyone started dancing to Caramelldansen again to celebrate our victory.

**WE GOT A STAR!**

* * *

Little did we know that we were being watched. By the dark clone of me.

"Hmph…" he muttered. "So that fool Topmaniac got defeated. And at the speed they head back to their ship, I can't catch them now. I knew I couldn't rely on that foolish top…or for that matter, the Topman Tribe."

The clone pivoted and headed back towards the controls. "Set a course back to Bowser Jr.'s Robot Reactor. The mission has failed."

He turned briefly to gaze back at us as we flew off with the Star. "Just you wait, Mario…just you wait.

"Soon, the shadows will destroy you. And…THE PLASMA SCREEN TV WILL BE MINE! A HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA…oh, it's not actually that funny."


	9. Completing the Road to the Robot Reactor

We didn't even know it, but our journey in the Region of Earth was nearing its end.

**Oh, and we also didn't know was that we were headed for…well…a big pain in the neck.**

**We would ride waves, we would catch big air…and we would fall down, past the water, into the void. Real fun.**

**(P.S. The author has paid me to say that this chapter is a bit more graphic than the rest, due to a fight between…well, I would pull the Spoiler Alert if I said a word, so I won't.)**

* * *

**Traveler's Log Entry 07: Completing the Road to the Robot Reactor**

**Axel**

* * *

We returned to Starship Mario to find a welcome sight.

"_Kuyashikute tsurakute nemurenai yoru…  
Dare ni demo aru yo…  
Sonna toki, ha yonde, kaketsukeru kara  
Oto no hayasade ne… _

"_Sore ga sadame demo ne, aragau yo.  
Kimi ga, hora, waratte ne kureru kara…_

"_Kanaetai yume tooi kedo,  
Isshou nara dekiru yo, muteki no yuuki de…  
Kirakira hikaru sono namida,  
Egao no mahou de ne tsubasa ni kaetara…  
Kitto, kitto, habatakeru kara…  
Niji wo koe sono saki made!"_

Terra was standing on deck, singing _Egao no Mahou_, and a bunch of Lumas were gathered around her.

"Hey, Terra's singing again!" I said, kind of happy to hear it again.

"Hey, is that a cake on deck?" Aeron said.

"ME WANT CAKE!" Ben shouted, jumping at the cake.

"HEY, BEN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I shouted.

Ben stopped in midair. He looked at me. "Um…getting cake? No, wait…I mean, making a cameo! =D"

…

"And getting cake," Ben added.

**CUT!**

Ben: NOOOOOOO! STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT! WHY? NOOOOOOO…MY CAKE…

He was one inch away.

* * *

_Take two._

"Hey, Terra's singing again!" I said, kind of happy to hear it again.

Terra finished singing.

*insert applause here*

Terra kind of blushed and bowed.

"That was pretty awesome," Mario said.

Everyone jumped. Apparently we had come in too quietly.

"Um…why is everyone looking shocked?" Luigi asked.

"Maybe we came in too quietly," Aeron said.

"Oh…hey guys," Terra said.

"So…how are you feeling now?" I asked.

"Pretty good," Terra said. "But how was I able to do all that?"

"Because…"

Everyone turned to Lubba. He seemed pretty serious, compared to how he usually was. "Have you ever heard of the most ancient cosmic legend?" he asked.

…

"No," we all said in unison.

…

We realized what happened and looked at each other. "That was weird," we all said in unison.

…

"That was weird, too," we all said again. In perfect unison.

…

"Stop saying what I'm saying!" everyone shouted in unison.

"ANYWAY," Lubba said, getting our attention. "This is a very old legend. So old that no one thinks it's true anymore, not even some members of our crew. But Terra is proof that they're real."

"What's real?" Terra asked, getting a bit weirded out.

"The Shining Stars," Lubba said.

"What?" Terra said. "What's a Shining Star?"

"You think stars are those bright bulbs that are in the sky. You also think that Stars are what you collect to power this ship. That's true. But…" Lubba paused at exactly the right time. "These Stars are different."

"So how do I prove they exist?" Terra asked.

"The Shining Stars are actually people. They are gifted with elemental powers-the forces that this universe possesses-and they are, in all essence, the universe's defenders."

Terra was looking a bit awed-in a not good way. Like the whole size of this thing was becoming apparent to her.

"The Shining Stars," Lubba went on, "are just normal people at first glance. But when something happens, they stand up to resolve it, and when other people are endangered, they will not hesitate to protect them. Does that sound like you, Terra?"

"Not until…recently," Terra said. "Because I…I didn't really protect anyone when the Koopa Troop attacked Toad Town and the Castle."

"Hm…that's odd," Lubba said. "But perhaps your acting like this more recently marks the surfacing of your power. However…with that power comes responsibility. Do you wish to protect?"

"Yes," Terra said, standing up a little taller. Even though she was just 148 cm-pretty short for her age.

"Good. Then you really are a Shining Star."

Terra didn't seem too certain she could do it. But there was also resolve in her eyes…to do what she had to.

"NOW THEN!" Lubba shouted, suddenly becoming cheerful. "I am proud to tell all of you that while you were getting a Star and Terra was napping that we have located a Grand Star!"

"A Grand Star?" Mario shouted.

"That's great!" Luigi shouted. "Let's go get it right now!"

"HOLD YOUR STINKIN' HORSES!" Lubba shouted.

*insert record scratch here*

"What?" Axel said. "What's wrong?"

"Well, we can't get there yet."

"WHAT?" everyone shouted.

"It just happens to be so that we don't have enough Power Star energy to go to the place where it is," Lubba explained. "So, sorry, we can't get there. HOWEVER! One Star should provide sufficient energy to get us there!"

"That's awesome!" I shouted.

"Um, what's a Grand Star?" Terra asked.

"Oh, a Grand Star is a greater Power Star," Lubba said. "But we can't put a Grand Star into the ship's energy supply, because they are needed for something else."

"And that would be?" Aeron asked.

"The Grand Stars link this universe together," Lubba said. "They're the glue that keeps it whole. So when that monster (Bowser) stole the Grand Stars, the universe spilt apart. And so that's why it's so important that we get them back. To link this universe back together."

"Oh…" Terra said.

"Well, you know what that means," Aeron said. "It's time to go get some Stars!"

Aeron walked up to the wheel and steered us away from the Battle Blaster Galaxy and headed for another galaxy. "Let's head to the Super Surf Galaxy!" The Launch Star appeared, and we headed towards the galaxy.

* * *

But when we landed, we were rather surprised.

There was only a bunch of rock platforms with palm trees around. Penguins were everywhere. And there on another platform was…a larger penguin, who seemed to be the coach or something.

"What's all this?" Terra asked, pointing.

There was a massive "race track" made purely out of water. Penguins swam through it, and across narrow spans of water, enormous drops, hairpin turns, and much more.

"Maybe we have to swim through it," I said. Seemed like a pretty good idea.

"I'd prefer surfing," Aeron said.

"Great," Terra said. "I'm bad at swimming…"

"Let's talk to the coach guy," Axel said. "Maybe he can tell us what's going on." So we went to him.

The coach saw us. "Are you here for Ray Surfing?"

"What-? Uh…" Terra looked startled by this, and her next few sentences were a jumbled mess of stuttering.

"Yes or no?" the coach asked.

"Uh, what's-" Aeron began.

"YES!" Luigi suddenly blurted.

"Good, good. Have you done it before?"

"No," I said.

"No," Aeron said.

"Yes, but neither of us has done it for a long time," Luigi said, gesturing towards Mario and himself.

"U-u-um…no," Terra stammered.

"Well, then, I'll just have to show you the basics," the coach said.

"Right," I said. "By the way, what should we call you?"

"'Coach' will do just fine," the coach said.

"Got it, Coach," Aeron said casually.

_

* * *

_

And so…

"WOO HOO!" Mario shouted as he flew off a wave.

"YOU FOOL!" Luigi shouted.

"WAAAAAHH!" Mario shouted as he fell past the track.

"Sigh…" I muttered.

Apparently, we had to get on some manta ray's back and steer it across the track, which was made of water that was held in that shape by a magnetic current, all the way to the giant sun thingy that showed we were at the finish. Pretty easy, huh?

No, not really.

Well, Mario kept trying to catch big air and 1-UP Shrooms and would always shoot off an edge or overshoot a jump or a whole ton of other stuff.

Luigi had a shaky grip and would shoot off the edge or stuff like that.

Terra opted to not do it all together since she had a serious fear of heights and parts of the track went upside down, which caused her to have vertigo just by LOOKING at Mario or Luigi going on those portions.

Aeron…well…Aeron went to sleep some time ago. So he wouldn't be doing it for a while.

"I guess that means I'm up," I said. "I have a feeling NOTHING will go wrong!"

_To prevent myself from being humiliated too much, I will only provide audio._

"AAAAAAAAAHHH!"

"NOOOOOO! FALLING!"

"WAAAAAAAAGH-HUAL!"

"OH (explicative removed)!"

_

* * *

_

After it was over…

"Okay, I have NO idea what just happened," I said.

"You fail?" Mario suggested.

"Shaddap," I said. "You did even worse."

"AHAHAHAHAHA!" Ben suddenly shouted, jumping in. "I HAS GOTTEN A BANKAI! HAHAHAHAHA!"

"Dude. Shut up about the Bankai," I said. "And besides, what the heck are you doing here?"

Ben stopped. "Showing off my Bankai…no wait…dude, isn't it obvious by now? I'm making a Cameo! =D"

**CUT!**

Ben: WHAT? BUT I DIDN'T GET TO SHOW OFF MY BANKAI OR GET MY CAKE! Oh, by the way, I made some. Here, you ca-

_

* * *

_

Take 3 (we interrupted Ben's cameo once again to flick him out of the picture).

Ben: Wait, you're not seriously gonna flick me out, right?

_Look, hey, kid, we try our best to give the audience the truth and nothing but the truth._

**FLICK!**

"AAAAIIIIEEEEE…"

* * *

"Shaddap," I said. "You did even worse."

"HEY!" Mario shouted.

"Don't worry, Axel," Terra said. "You'll get it eventually."

"Thanks, Terra," I said. Terra blushed and smiled.

"Zzz…"Aeron snored.

* * *

Overall, I had the highest performance out of all of us. So when Coach asked us if we wanted to compete in a ray surfing contest to get the fastest time, I got nominated.

"Oh boy," I muttered, getting onto the ray's back. "This should be interesting."

"Go for it, Axel!" Mario shouted.

"Three…two…one…GO!" Coach shouted.

I sped off in a flash. "Come on, Ray," I muttered. "Give me all you got."

We raced across a narrow part of the track and blasted up a turn that was slowly going upwards. Then we zoomed across a straight waterway.

I was nearing the end when I noticed it.

There was an Airship coming! And on it was…the black Mario Clone!

"It's him," I growled.

Suddenly, I remembered where I was, and I turned fast, shooting away from the edge. "Idiot," I muttered to myself. Then I raced onto the next portion of the track, which was beginning to tilt sideways…

_Just go really fast and you won't fall,_ I thought. I blasted forward at an even greater speed.

"Axel, look out!" I suddenly heard Terra shouted.

I looked up, and saw the Airship blasting cannonballs at the track! They smashed into it, disturbing the water's flow and causing gaps to appear in the water.

"Sheesh, they don't play fair," I muttered.

So I started doing the craziest maneuvers ever to avoid the cannonballs. More than once, one crashed through the water half a foot away from me.

"I'll stop them!" Terra shouted. She raised her hand, and…nothing happened.

"What…" Terra stared at it, shocked. "Why…why won't it work?"

"What's going on?" I called.

"I can't use my powers at will," Terra said. "I don't know how! How was I able to do it the first time?"

"How did you feel when you were first able to do it?" I called.

"I felt…like I should be protecting something, but I wasn't," Terra said. "And I kind of had a strong want to do it."

"Well, then-WHOA!" I shouted, dodging a cannonball an inch away from me. "I'll just have to take things into my own hands!"

I drew my sword. "Rule over the Midnight Heavens…Shiruba-Getsu!" I shouted, whirling the sword into energy, which quickly spun itself the gauntlets. "Let's do this, random Airship!" I shouted.

I pointed my hand at the Airship. Silver-blue energy pulled in around it, soon creating a sphere of silver with a brightly shining silver nimbus surrounding. Three orbs of blue circled closely around it, and I got ready to attack.

"Ketatamashi Getsu (Piercing Moon)!" I shouted.

A slender sliver of silver blasted from the sphere. It shot through the hull of the Airship, and out the other end. There wasn't even a mark.

A massive explosion rocked the ship. Smoke burst from the hole, and it began to sink.

"Direct hit on the engine!" I said. After a bit of congratulating myself, I set my mind back on Ray Surfing. At this point, the track went through three red hoops, and then dropped suddenly.

"WAAAAAGGGHHH!" I shouted as I went down a vertical. "SHEESH, WHO THE HECK MADE THIS THING?"

Suddenly, I noticed the end of the vertical coming up quick. And shortly after that was an incredibly sharp turn.

"Oh boy," I muttered. I braked hard, racing down the vertical's end. But I had been going way too fast, and it looked like I'd shoot off the edge.

That's when I saw a sign with an arrow on it, pointing in the direction of the track. Getting a really random idea, I extended Shiruba-Getsu's blade and wrapped it around the pole. (Note: Because Shiruba-Getsu is a blade of energy, I can control its shape…easily. =D) Then I pulled myself to safety.

"That was close," I muttered to myself. Then I raced across a path of swerving turns. They turned in random directions at random times, at random angles. Basically, everything was random about them.

"I have NO idea how I'm supposed to clear this thing in 1.5 (explicative removed) minutes!" I shouted, swerving around an extremely tight bend and immediately going around a 90 degree one in the opposite direction.

"_Kimi no naka ni watashi wo zutto…  
BUKKMA-KU shite ne!  
Warai nagara ganbatta to…  
Mechakucha homete ne!_

_Donna toki mo, zenbu honki.  
GYAPPU nimo odorokanaide…  
Tatta ima wo tsutsumanakucha…  
Mirai mo nai desho? _

_TATAKAI no imi ATATAKAI nara…  
Tatakainuku yo…  
Tatakainado nai watashitachi no sekai no tame ni…_

_Kimi to nara kitto dekiru koto…  
KOKORO to KOKORO de te wo musunde!  
Unmeisen gyutto kasanetara,  
yume he no kyouhansha dokomade demo tobesou…  
nemureru tsubasa wo shinjite!"_

"Huh?" I looked around, wondering where the singing was coming from. Then I saw it: Terra was singing _Bookmark A Head_…but why? To encourage me?

Yeah, I think that was it. I gave her a thumbs up and raced around the curves.

"I can do it," I muttered. Then I shot into a tunnel of water with random gaps in it, roaring around the gaps at full speed.

"Time?" I called as I turned a corner in the tunnel.

"1:34," Coach said. "But since there was interference, you get another minute."

"That's plenty of time," I grinned. Then I soared out of the tunnel and began going up loop-de-doops at full speed.

And when I zoomed out of them, I saw a hairpin turn and…the Star Gate!

"TIME UP!" I shouted, hooking the turn and sailing through the Star Gate.

"1:46:08," Coach said. "Pretty good for a beginner, especially after the interference."

_After I got off the Ray…_

"You are a real champ!" Coach said. "And for that, I give you this golden medal!"

Coach reached somewhere and then brought out a Star!

"Wow, a Star?" I asked. "Cool!"

"Take it!" Coach said. "You deserve it after completing the course!"

"Wow, great job, Axel!" Terra said. "You did really well! Better than I could…"

"Pretty good," Mario said before I could say anything to Terra. "But not as awesome as I am!"

"Shut up, Mario," Luigi said. "You weren't any help at all!"

"Well neither were you!"

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?"

"You heard me! You were as useless as you say I was!"

The two got into a brawl.

"Um…" Terra watched them and sweatdropped.

"Okay, thanks Coach," I said. "Now-"

Suddenly, it happened.

**ZOOM!**

Something black blasted past me and grabbed the Star.

"Wha-?" I shouted. "Guys! Someone stole the Star!"

"Stole the Star?" Terra shouted. "Who was it?"

"Did it right under your noses, too," the thief said. "God, you guys suck. Now…" he turned and we saw who he really was: The Mario clone. "I'll be going now!"

"Not if I can do anything about it!" Terra shouted, and suddenly an emerald green reiatsu erupted from her as she ran at the Mario clone. It was rather large for one generated by someone with her experience.

The Mario clone smirked. "You really think you can challenge me?" he asked. "WELL THINK AGAIN!"

A pitch-black reiatsu erupted from the Mario clone, even larger than the one Terra created. Terra cried out as she was blown backwards by the force of it.

As we looked at the Mario clone, we saw that he perfectly matched the description of him that the Lumas gave. He had grey skin and was in a totally black suit, his hat said S, and he had grey gloves. But his eye and hair color was the same.

"Ugh…" Terra got up. "I _can _challenge you!" she shouted, seeming stronger. "You fight for someone who will ruin everybody's lives! I fight to protect everyone! What do you fight for?"

"What do I fight for?" the Mario clone asked, grinning. "I fight for…nah, you don't need to know."

"Well, anyways…" Terra walked towards him. "I'm afraid I can't let you walk away with the Star."

"You'll try to stop me," the clone said. "But in the end, you won't be able to make a scratch on me."

* * *

**Boss: The Mario Clone**

Terra jumped at the Mario clone, emeralds encrusting her arm. "I _will_ defeat you! People are counting on me!"

The Mario clone smirked. "Then you let them down."

Terra responded by trying to punch the clone with her emerald-covered fist.

The Clone suddenly whipped his hand up and caught her fist.

Terra stared in shock. "How…are you a Shining Star?"

"What, that old cosmic legend?" the Clone said. "Who knows? It's just a myth. At any rate…that was a puny punch."

Terra attacked again, but the Clone just blocked every single one of her attacks. "I just said. How many times do I have to tell you? IT DOESN'T WORK."

As he spoke, black energy coursed around his hand, and he clenched it, shattering the emeralds. "Take THIS!"

The Mario Clone suddenly tightened his grip. Terra screamed…and I noticed it. Shadow energy was being transmitted from the Mario Clone's hand!

He released his grip, and Terra fell to the ground.

"You're weak," the Mario Clone said. "Battles are for the strong. And you aren't that strong. How do you think you can stand up to me?"

Terra struggled to get up, but her body wasn't working well after the attack.

"Give up," the Clone said. "Or do you want to die?"

"I won't give up," Terra said slowly. "I'll defeat you, no matter how much I get hurt by it."

"I see," the Clone said. "So you really _do_ have a death wish. DIE!" And before Terra could move, the Clone raised his hand, and shadow gathered at it, and he blasted it out, smashing Terra backwards. Terra tried to get up, but then the Clone jumped and landed right in front of her, and he drew back his fist. "FALCON PUNCH!"

Terra's eyes widened as the fist came down.

**BOOOOOM!**

An explosion of shadow burst from the fist, and even I was blown back a bit by it. "Falcon Punch…" I muttered.

When it was all over, the Mario Clone stood over Terra, who was lying on the ground, battered.

"Easy," the clone said. "I'm going now."

"U-u-uo…" Terra groaned and slowly tried to get up again. Suddenly, her expression contorted, and her hand flew to her stomach.

"Don't even bother," the Clone said. "If you continue, you'll die."

"I…" Terra struggled up a bit further. "I said…I'd defeat you...no matter…"

"It was all a bunch of baloney," the Clone said, raising his foot. He brought it down on Terra's back. Terra screamed and fell to the ground again.

"If you still want to continue, it's futile," the Clone said. "Wow, you lack any potential at all-uh?" He had suddenly stopped moving. "I…can't…move…" He looked down. Emeralds were forming, crystallizing over his legs. They were going up to his torso, and-

"Argh!" He shattered the emeralds. "What a nuisance-"

Terra's hand smashed into the back of his head.

**BLAM!**

"AUGH!" the clone shouted, getting blasted away by a seismic wave. "Okay, now you really _are_ gonna die!" He ran towards Terra, who was only barely standing up.

"I'm at my limit," Terra said to herself. "I can't…"

"Terra!" I shouted. "Don't give in to despair! You _can_ defeat him! All you have to do is try!"

Terra snapped back to it and then emeralds encrusted both her arms. "Axel's right! I _will_ win! If I just believe in myself!"

"What baloney!" the Clone shouted. "Bring it on!"

Terra and the Clone battled hand-to-hand, trying to punch the other. But both of them were performing at an equal level.

"How can _she_ be doing so well in hand to hand against _me_?" the Clone muttered. "It doesn't make any sense!"

"There are some things in this world-no, _universe_," Terra said. "…that cannot be explained. But I...if by doing it, I can protect everybody…if by doing it, that wish can come true…then I'll do it!"

"Then come on! Let's do it!" the clone shouted. "If you dare! Falcon PUNCH!"

Terra's hand flew up, as did the Clone's.

**WHAM!**

Both were knocked back, and red liquid splattered on the ground.

Terra raised her head a little. There was a fist-shaped mark on her head, and blood trickled from it. She didn't look like she could go on for any longer.

The Clone also got up. He didn't seem to be affected much by the attack.

"The attack…didn't work…" Terra groaned. "I…did…what I…could…but it's…over…" She slowly began to collapse.

I dashed over and caught her. "Terra, are you alright?"

"I…don't think…I'm...really a…Shining Star…" Terra whispered.

"What makes you think that?" I asked, shocked.

"I wasn't…able to…protect…anyone…" Terra whispered, her face and voice despairing. "I'm sorry…Axel…I lost…" She looked at the Clone. "You…were right…I wasn't…able to w…win…"

The Clone grinned. "Told you," he said, and he dashed towards the Star.

Suddenly, blood burst out of his shoulder. "Augh!" the Clone shouted. "Ergh...so she _was_ able to wound me after all...but I can still get the Star!"

"Terra," I said. "I've said this many times already, but...you can't give up."

Terra se emed to realize something. "You're right…" she said. "I gave in to despair just then. But now I know…I can't do that."

Terra suddenly raised her hand, and MASSIVE earth spikes blasted out of the ground.

Dare I say what happens next? Well, to keep it T rated, I won't. Let's just say he got flagpoled and leave it at that. Anything else would be too graphic.

"HUAL!" the Clone shouted. "Ow…my god…" He fainted.

"Well, he got what was coming to him," I muttered. "Guys, it's over if you haven't noticed."

Luigi and Mario were still brawling. And Aeron was still napping.

"This isn't really the most epic way to reach a major milestone," I muttered as I grabbed the Star. "Terra, are you alright?"

"I'm kind of not happy about what I said a few seconds ago," Terra said, looking down. "But…" She looked at me, her eyes showing resolve. "I _won't_ give in to despair ever again!"

I looked at her, a bit admiringly. "You really are a Shining Star after all," I said. _This world could use more people with her resolve…_

**WE GOT A STAR!**

* * *

We got back to Starship Mario with the Star. "We can get the Grand Star now," I said.

Lubba looked pretty happy. "You got the Star?" he said. "That's great! Now let's head to the Grand Star!" His face suddenly darkened. "I warn you, though, that monster's gonna put up a pretty big fight. You up for it?"

"We can handle it," I said. "There's nothing we can't do."

"And if we don't, Bowser will ruin everyone's life," Terra said. "This is what we have to do. After all, it's my duty if I really am a Shining Star."

Everyone stared at her, suddenly noticing how much stuff she went through when she battled the Mario Clone. "TERRA, WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO YOU?" Mario shouted.

"I got in a fight with your clone," Terra said. "It wasn't easy. And I don't know if I can be of much help when we go there. But I promise you, I won't give up. Ever."

Everyone looked at her admiringly. "Get some rest, Terra," Luigi said. "You'll need it soon."

"Right," Terra said. She walked towards the entrance to the living quarters. "Axel, do you know how to do healing Kido?"

"Yeah," I said, walking after her. "By the time we get there, you'll be ready for anything."

"Then here we go!" Mario shouted, walking up to the wheel. "Prepare for ownage, Bowser!"

"Yawn…huh?" Aeron said, who had been asleep for a good two hours.

We all groaned.


	10. Robo Rampage

The heat was on as we entered the final part of our journey in the Region of Earth: the one occupied by Bowser.

**It was a base with many AI enemies, commanded by his son, Bowser Jr's Robot Reactor.**

**We would have to fight hard for the Grand Star, and our confidence was waning.**

**But in the end, we were led out of it. By the Shining Stars.**

* * *

**Traveler's Log Entry 08: Robo Rampage**

**Stars: 07**

**Luigi**

* * *

Mario, Aeron and I stood on deck, in silence as we blasted towards our final destination.

"We're one step closer to getting to where Peach is," I said.

"I know," Mario said, keeping his eyes forward. "We'll be going one giant leap once we get the Grand Star."

Aeron looked at me. "Hey, Luigi, doesn't Mario's mood seem kind of different right now?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"He seems a bit more quiet and reserved," Aeron explained. "Usually, he's loud and a total idiot."

"I'm right here!" Mario shouted. "Stop talking about me like that!"

We stood in silence for a bit. Then, Aeron spoke. "Something's seriously bothering you guys, isn't it?"

"Huh?" I said. "No, nothing's bothering me."

But in reality, something was. I couldn't help feeling jealous of Terra. She had gotten her new power, and now it felt like she was more important than we were.

"You're jealous of Terra, aren't you?" Aeron asked.

Both Mario and I were shocked. He had nailed it dead on. "How did you-?"

"What do you two fight for?" Aeron asked. "Do you fight just to save Princess Peach? Or do you fight for the good of the universe?"

"Um…I never thought of it that way," I said.

"Well, if you fight for the universe, that's understandable," Aeron said. "That means you want to protect people, but now she can do it better than you can."

"Well, yeah," I said.

"Don't worry about it," Aeron said. "The fact that you're trying to protect people to the best of your ability is good enough."

"I can't protect people alone, you know."

We jumped when we heard her. Terra and Axel had quietly come on deck. Terra looked kind of serene. "Don't be jealous of me just because of my new power," she said. "In my eyes, the greatest power is…friendship. I can give in to despair sometimes, and I've done it many times in my life. You give me the power to keep going on. So it's thanks to you I have the power. Don't be jealous of it."

"Guys, we're here," Mario said as he stopped the Starship outside a spiraling galaxy.

But the galaxy didn't look like a very welcome place. Everywhere we looked, robots were everywhere.

"Whoa…that's Bowser Jr.'s Robot Reactor…" Terra said (she pulled the name from the holomap). "They sure put emphasis on 'robot'." Thanks to Axel, Terra had fully recovered from her battle with Mario's evil clone. I'd say who he was, but I swore to myself I'd try to forget it all. So I can't tell you. Sorry.

"Let's a go!" Mario shouted. The Launch Star appeared, and he ran towards it.

"Guys, wait, isn't this kind of reckless?" Aeron asked.

"We can't wait," Axel said. "A universe is counting on us, you know."

"Um, everyone, wait…" Terra said. "What's _that_?"

We looked and saw a colossal three legged robot on some tiny planet.

"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure we'll find out later," Aeron said.

"Let's a go!" Mario shouted. "As I said already."

* * *

We landed on an earthen planet with…many metal barricades around. They surrounded us, and not to mention there was some weird building or whatever up ahead that we couldn't get into because of the barricades.

"WTF?" Mario shouted. "What's all _this_ about?"

Oh yes, and might I add that there were many robots. That all were turning towards us.

"What the heck? Starsmasher?" Terra shouted.

"Nah, can't be Starsmasher, he was a lot bigger and meaner," Axel said.

"What the heck is a 'Starsmasher'?" Mario asked.

"Some boss guy who we defeated," Axel said. "He had shields and a missile launcher…well two actually…and he was really annoying."

The Starbashers (that's what we dubbed them at the time of my writing this) raised the orbs on their hands, and red shields deployed from them.

"Break the shield!" I shouted.

"With what?" Axel asked. "Luigi, what kind of attack do we need to destroy them?"

"Let's see…" I analyzed the shields. "We need a seismic wave! Like before we defeated Starsmasher!"

"I'll get them!" Terra shouted, and she smashed her hand into the ground. A massive seismic wave smashed the Starbashers' shields and critically damaged their systems. Before they could recover and put their shields back up, Terra threw her other hand onto the ground, and massive spikes of earth blasted up from the ground, impaling them and disabling them for good.

Immediately, some of the barricades receded. But Magikoopas were waiting for us. They tried to conjure a magical barrier to prevent us from getting in.

"Rule over the Midnight Heavens…Shiruba-Getsu!" Axel shouted, releasing his Shikai. As soon as it was finished, Axel raised his hand, and the blade retreated into the gauntlet. Then silver energy spiraled around his hand. "No barrier will save them from this. Ketatamashi Getsu!"

Axel fired several slender beams of sliver energy, and they raced towards the magical barrier. "It won't work!" Terra shouted.

"Just watch me," Axel said.

The beams hit the barrier...but didn't explode against it. They pierced _straight through it_ and blasted the Magikoopas, blasting them away. The barrier quickly evaporated.

"So easy to bust through shields," Axel said. "I love this technique."

We walked through the base, but turned a corner and suddenly found several Astrogoombas, or rather Goombas who had helmets, blocking our path.

"Watch out; nothing can penetrate their helmets," I said.

"Really?" Axel asked. "Ketatamashi Getsu!"

Axel's beam blasted through the Astrogoombas helmet, erupting it into Star Bits right away. But more were in our path. Way too many more.

"Look," I said. "Mario and I will clear this quickly. Ready, Mario?"

"Got it!" Mario said. "Which one will we use, though?"

"This one," I said, reaching into my pocket, and then finding what I was looking for. I pulled it out: a green turtle shell. "The Green Shell!"

"You can stuff _that_ in your pocket?" Terra asked, gaping.

"More about that later. Get ready, Mario!" I shouted, and I threw the Green Shell and punted it with my foot. The Shell raced across the ground and smashed into an Astrogoomba, bowling it over. But the Shell kept going.

It ricocheted back towards Mario, and he booted it into several. After ricocheting several times, the Green Shell raced back to me. I made my kick, but I _just barely_ missed! "No!" I shouted. "Another Green Shell wasted!"

"I'll get it!" Aeron shouted, and he drew his sword. "Rule over the Raging Heavens…Tsubasa no Raioh!"

As soon as his sword finished morphing, Aeron raised it over his head. White lightning outlined with gold arced into the blade until it was totally covered with surging white volts.

"Ikazuchi Chikara (Thunder Force)!" Aeron shouted. He drew his sword back, and then he stabbed it hard into the Green Shell.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I shouted. "YOU'LL BREAK THE SHELL!"

But apparently, I was wrong. Aeron's sword fired a massive column of lightning at the Shell, blasting it towards the shocked Astrogoombas.

The Shell blasted forward towards the Astrogoombas, now faster than ever before and trailing numerous gold lightning. It smashed into _one _Astrogoomba, exploded…and released so much electricity that it destroyed EVERY SINGLE FREAKING ASTROGOOMBA THERE WAS.

"Wow!" Terra said. "That was amazing!"

"Well, I've actually never used it that way," Aeron said. "Up 'till now."

"Yeah, right, that's great," I muttered, annoyed that he performed better with one of Mario and my signature moves. "Look, let's keep moving."

"At least they can't use the Yoo Who Cannon!" Mario said.

"Um…hate to break it to you, Mario, but we can't use it; the way to use that attack doesn't make any sense in this story," I said.

"Aw…" Mario said.

We kept going on through the base, passing through a hallway that had windows, allowing us to look at many robot arms circling conveyer belts, putting pieces together, screwing them in, and welding things together. Further down, Koopas worked to forge and hammer out armor plates and missile launchers. And if you put all the pieces together…you'd get a Starbasher!

"They're making more of those robots," Aeron said. "But we've only seen those robots _here_. Are they planning to mass produce them and make an army?"

"They're more powerful than average troops. They'll give us more trouble," Mario said.

"We can't allow them to," I said. "Do you guys have ideas?"

"We sure do," Axel said, grinning. "Right, Aeron?"

"You got it," Aeron said. "Ready when you are. Okay, ready? Go!" And the two leveled their blades at the many systems that worked to make the Starbashers. (Both had their Shikai on.)

"Ikazuchi Chikara!" "Boruto no Kage (Bolt of Shadow)!"

Aeron's sword was surrounded by white lightning once again, and he blasted it at the forges down below. At the same time, Axel's blades retreated back into their gauntlets, and then the gauntlets burst with deep blue lightning. He blasted it out at the robots.

Both attacks smashed through the floor, and Aeron's massive blast smashed through conveyer belts and other things until it crashed into the forges. Axel's crackling surges zipped through the chaos, smashing the more delicate robot arms, severing them and allowing them to fall away.

When the two ended the attack, the floor was covered with scrap.

"And there you have it," Axel said.

"Wow!" we all said.

* * *

We continued navigating the base, but there was little else to find.

"This is boring!" Mario shouted. "I hope we get out of here soon."

Suddenly, Terra shouted. "There's the exit!"

Sure enough, there was a gate leading out onto a platform…and the Launch Star was on the platform!

"Awesome! Let's go!" I shouted. I walked towards the gate…

Suddenly, I felt my foot sink down a little. I looked down to see a part of the floor indent slightly under my weight. It was a pressure plate! And to make matters worse, I saw in the room several Starbasher robots!

"Oh, god, no," I said. "RUN FOR IT!"

But it was too late. Red lights blared on and off. Barricades slid across all entrances. We were trapped! Then the Starbasher robots came to life, activated their shields, and raced towards us.

"We're trapped!" Aeron shouted. (No duh.) "Take out the Starbashers!"

"SOGOYA!"

We stopped as some redheaded girl suddenly blasted inwards, slashing the Starbashers to pieces. Shortly after, the barricades receded.

"There we go," the redheaded girl said. She turned towards us. "I only accept cash for super robot destruction."

Then we saw who she was…

"RINNA?" Terra shouted. "What are you doing here?"

"Hold on a sec…"

*insert record scratch here*

"You mean there ISN'T a Morning Lune here?" Rinna asked, looking puzzled.

"What? What's a Morning Lune?" I asked. (No one bothered to listen to me, and no one's told me what a Morning Lune is, so don't ask me.)

"What do you mean?" Axel asked.

"I thought the idiot who paid me to make cameos (the author) said I'd get a Morning Lune if I made a pointless cameo at some random inappropriate time!" Rinna shouted, obviously ticked off. "If there isn't a Morning Lune here, then I'M OUTTA HERE!"

"…" We watched as Rinna jumped through some swirly portal…and…

**KRESH!**

"WHOA!" we heard some girl shout from the swirly portal.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF TOTALLY JERK GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS IS GOING ON HERE?" another girl shouted.

"Itai…" we heard Rinna say. "Oh, hey Trude, Erica. What's with the looks on your faces?"

"RINNA SKYWIELDER WILCKE!" that person who shouted about "totally jerk government officials" shouted.

"Um…why are you so angry, Trude?" Rinna asked. "And Erica, did you wake up cranky again?"

"No, I-" the girl who shouted "WHOA!" began.

"HARTMANN (aka Erica) AND I WERE ENJOYING OUR TEA WHEN YOU SUDDENLY LANDED ON THE TEA SET AND BROKE EVERYTHING!" that girl who was shouting a whole ton (I believe it was Trude) yelled. "AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO ONCE SERGEANT BISHOP CO-"

"Captain Barkhorn, what's going on?" we suddenly heard the voice that girl who had freaked out about tea sets back in that swirly portal that we saw at Topman's Tower say. "Why are you freaking ou…oh…"

"Uh…Bishop? Why're you falling?" we heard Erica say.

**THUMP!**

"Lynne? You okay?" Rinna asked.

"Great," Trude grumbled. "What am I going to do now?"

The swirly portal suddenly closed.

"O…k…that was weird," Axel said. "Moving on."

* * *

_After blasting off out of the base…_

We landed on a planet that was completely spherical, but it had many holes in it, as well as cages, Astrogoombas, and…missile launchers.

"Missile launchers?" Axel wondered. "What're they for?

"Guys, don't go near them," I said. "Those are Bill Blasters. They shoot Bullet Bills, warheads with consciousnesses. They home in on anyone they feel like…not to mention when they feel like it."

Terra was looking kind of worried. "Guys…I don't know if I can do this well."

"Huh?" Mario asked.

"I'm deprived of my element here," Terra explained. "Look, the planet is entirely composed of metal."

"You can _create_ your own element," I said. "I've seen you do it with those emeralds many times already."

"Well, Shining Stars aren't commonly embodied with power to _create_ their element," Axel said. "Terra's lucky to just be able to create emeralds. However…" he looked at Terra. "Judging by our battle with Starsmasher, and also the one you had with the Mario Clone, it appears you get fatigued by using your powers. Am I wrong?"

"Well, not really," Terra said. "But it isn't tiring to make earthquakes, and it wasn't tiring when I made all those earth spikes under the feet of those Starbashers and the Mario Clone. Really, I've only felt it when I create emeralds."

"But why emeralds?" I wondered. "Is it some spiritual thing?"

"I don't know," said Terra. "Despite being one myself, I don't know much about Shining Stars. But I suppose it's because I like emeralds. They kind of look beautiful and…"

"FOCUS!" Aeron shouted at us, smashing an Astrogoomba over our heads.

"Uh…right!" Terra said. "But there's no Launch Star…"

Astrogoombas began running towards us to avenge their fallen comrade.

Terra raised her hand, and enormous emerald spikes suddenly rose out of the ground, impaling the Astrogoombas.

"Wow! Way to go, Terra!" Mario shouted.

"Y-yeah," Terra said. She _did_ seem kind of tired, actually.

"Guys, I found the Launch Star!" Aeron shouted.

"Awesome! Let's g-" Mario began.

"HOLD YOUR STINKIN' HORSES!" Aeron shouted.

*insert record scratch here*

"Wait…what?" Mario asked.

"Guys, the Launch Star's in a cage," Aeron said. "So we can't get to it."

"Well this sucks," Mario said. "Now we need to get a Bullet Bill to break it open."

"Right," Aeron said. "How should we lure it over?"

"Well, I could jump in front of the Bill Blaster, and then the Bullet Bill would follow me and I could lure it so that it hits the cage," I said.

"But you said to not go near the Bill Blaster," Terra said.

"Wah-I-well-no-I mean-look, just someone go in front of the Bill Blaster and get a Bullet Bill!" I said, annoyed that Terra had beat me down with my own words and no effort.

"Whatever," Aeron said, waving his hand in front of the Bill Blaster. Almost instantaneously, a Bullet Bill popped out and launched itself at Aeron. Aeron led it towards the cage, and then jumped away as the Bullet Bill crashed headlong into the cage, destroying it. The Launch Star, free of the cage, expanded to regular size.

"We're almost there!" Mario said. "Let's keep going!"

Unfortunately, we were far from "almost there."

Our next stop was a small, round planet of metal with…many, many, MANY Starbasher robots.

"Holy…" I said.

"Crap…" Mario said.

The Starbashers noticed us, immediately leveled their missile launchers, and began firing warheads.

We began dodging in midair, but there were way too many missiles flying at us. Then, Terra suddenly looked up and shouted in shock.

"What is it?" I shouted, looking at where she was looking…and a massive emerald spike racing towards a figure. It was the Mario Clone!

"It's you again!" Terra shouted. "What are you doing here?"

"My affiliation is with the Koopa Troop," the Clone said. "So I can get my 72-inch Plasma Screen TV!"

*insert record scratch here*

"Hold on," Axel said. "YOU'RE DOING THIS ALL FOR A TV?"

"Yep," the Clone said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

_It's definitely him…_ I thought. _It can't be anyone else._ "We won't let you win," I said. "Even if it means you won't get your plasma screen TV."

"Whatever," the Clone said. "I _will_ get my plasma screen TV. Through this!"

The Clone's hands suddenly began to pull in shadows, until black was completely surrounding them, and then he began blasting down blobs of black energy towards the Starbashers.

"What the heck?" Terra shouted. "He's blasting his own troops!"

"Something's definitely wrong here," Aeron said. "Those shots aren't to destroy, they're to…_enhance_."

"What? Enhance?" Mario shouted, looking panicked. "That can only mean…"

"Yes," Aeron said. "The Starbashers are getting their abilities upgraded through corruption by Shadow."

"Victory is mine today!" the clone shouted, and he bolted away, laughing evilly.

"Argh!" Axel growled. "When we get him…"

The mottled black faded away, but the Starbashers came out looking more evil than ever before. Their dull silver armor was now pitch black with dark gray lines forming hexagon shapes, and their lights and orbs glowed an eerie red.

"What the heck?" I shouted. "They became Neuroi! :O"

"Um…yeah, I'm pretty sure this isn't Strike Witches related," Axel said. "WHATEVER. LET'S TAKE THEM DOWN!"

Axel leveled his blades, and they retreated back into his gauntlets. "Boruto no Kage!" Dark blue lightning blasted out of them, quickly striking the dark Starbashers. But they just deployed red shields, and the lightning exploded harmlessly against them.

"Crap, it didn't work!" Axel shouted. "Tsukiren!" He blasted a silver-blue wave of energy at the Starbashers, but it harmlessly exploded against the shields once again.

"What _does_ work against them?" Axel shouted. "Ketatamashi Getsu!" He blasted the slender silver beams through their shields, and they smashed into the Starbashers and blasted away their armor, even making holes in them…but then suddenly the armor began crystallizing back over the holes!

"Regeneration?" Aeron shouted. "And we don't even know their weak point! How _can_ they be defeated now?" Suddenly, the Starbashers all charged, trying to smash us with their shields.

"Look out!" Mario shouted. We all scattered, and the Starbashers turned around and leveled their cannons. Then they fired mottled black blobs of energy, and they struck the ground in front of us. Shadow erupted everywhere.

"Augh!" I shouted. "This…how can we hope to win now…?"

"Don't…Luigi…please…" I heard Terra say. "Don't…give in…to despair…"

_How? _I thought. _How can she say this? We're going to lose! I can't find their weakness, and that means the only option is to smash the shields again and again until they go down! And who knows how long that may take? _"Terra…it's futile…we can't win…" I said.

"No…no!" Terra shouted through the shadow. "We…didn't come…this far…to just…walk away…we can't…give up now…we _can_ win!...Help is coming…I can sense it…"

"You got that right," we heard. Suddenly, the shadow cleared, and Axel was standing there, with…a cell phone?

"This leaves us with one despearate measure," Axel said. "Time to call in the experts on Neuroi beatdown!"

"HUH?" Mario shouted. "WHAT DO NEUROI HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING?"

Axel just dialed, and then said into it: "Hello, is this the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, AKA the Strike Witches? Yeah…I kind of have a Neuroi problem here…5 MINUTES? THE (explicative removed)? All right…I can wait…" He hung up. "Yeah, help's coming."

"Let's do it!" Aeron shouted, pointing his sword at a Starbasher. "Ikazuchi Chikara!" Aeron fired the beam of lightning. The Starbasher put up its shield, but slowly and steadily got plowed backwards by the blast.

Then Axel went alongside him. "Boruto no Kage!" he shouted, and he blasted lightning at the Starbasher, pushing it back further.

Mario and I began kicking Shells against the Starbasher's shield, trying to weaken it further. But then the Starbasher just raised its orbs, and shot red beams from them that destroyed the shell quickly. Mario muttered something and grabbed another shell.

"I'll help too!" Terra shouted, drawing back her fist. Emeralds began to crystallize around her…soon becoming MASSIVE SIZED GEMS.

"Terra, NO!" Aeron shouted. "If you do that, you'll be out of it for who knows how long!"

Terra punched, and then the massive emeralds smashed into several Starbashers, plowing them down. But more came to take their place.

Terra immediately drew back her fist, and smashed the Starbashers with more emeralds. But still more were coming. There were like 100 when we got there, and now there were 83 standing.

"I'm going to have to hit harder…" Terra said.

"STOP!" we all shouted. But Terra didn't listen. She smashed her fist into the ground, and massive spikes disabled a whole ton of Starbashers: about 45. But now the ones she plowed down earlier were getting back up…

She prepared to get some more…and then suddenly collapsed.

"What the-?" Mario shouted.

"She exerted way too much of her power quickly," Aeron explained, pulling Terra away from some more beams. "Now she'll be out of it for a while."

"In the meantime," Axel said. "We have to hold out here ourselves."

"But not alone!" we suddenly heard. "We're here to kick some Neuroi-no, Neuroi wannabe-butt!"

We turned to see a redheaded girl…who we were quite familiar with by now. "Rinna!" Axel shouted. "Glad you could come!"

"And not just me…" Rinna said, grinning. "But I brought some of my friends to help!"

Then four other girls stepped out of the swirly portal behind Rinna. One looked like an older, more mature version of Rinna; however, for unknown reasons, both Rinna and that girl had wolf's ears and tail. Another bore a strange resemblance to Terra, except with brown eyes and neater hair, as well as the ears and tail of…some animal I couldn't identify. A third had brown hair that was tied into pigtails, and not to mention features of…oh boy…a German Wirehaired Pointer. The last one had silver hair and her features were of a black cat. And all of them wore strange devices on their legs that had helicopter blades on them, and they were armed with guns.

"I brought my friends to help me," Rinna said. "My older sister, Minna…" she gestured at the person who looked like her. "Yoshika …" she gestured at the girl who looked a lot like Terra. "Trude…" she gestured at the girl with the brown pigtails. "And Sanya," she finished, gesturing at the silver haired girl. "We're all going to get the Neuroi wannabes off your hands before you know it!"

"And just when I finally managed to find a time slot to go visit Chris in the hospital…" Trude muttered.

Minna smiled. "You were the most raring to go, you know."

Trude blushed and opened her mouth, but no words came out. Rinna giggled. "Siscon mode activated!"

"Siscon…?" I wondered. But I didn't get to ask, because the Neuroified Starbashers leveled their missile launchers and attacked.

"Scatter!" Minna shouted, suddenly snapping into a serious tone. The four quickly flew away from the shots of shadow. "Let's see…there are 98 total…Sanya, Miyafuji, attack the ones to the right. There should be about 36 there."

"_Yokai (Roger)!_" the two shouted, and they flew towards the Starbashers.

The Starbashers immediately lowered their guns and blasted away. "Look out!" I shouted.

Yoshika thrust out her hand, and suddenly a massive circular shield appeared…with three circles rolling around its circumference. At any rate, it deflected the shadow blasts easily. "Sanya-chan, now!" she shouted.

"Right," Sanya said, and she leveled her Fliegerhammer (a kind of rocket launcher). Then she blasted rocket after rocket at a Starbasher. The Starbasher tried to block it with its shield, but eventually, Sanya's attacks were becoming too much for it, and the shield broke. While Sanya stopped to reload, Yoshika quickly pulled out her own gun-a Type 99-2 13 mm machine gun-and then fired relentlessly at the Starbasher. White holes quickly were blasted into the armor, and then suddenly, the black armor was blasted away and there was a red crystal there!

"What is that?" I shouted. But Yoshika didn't reply. She just shot at it. Then Sanya finished reloading, and she leveled the Fliegerhammer and blasted a rocket at the crystal, destroying it. The Starbasher exploded into white dust.

"Wow," Rinna said. "You know what a Neuroi is, and you're asking what its core is? You're weird!"

"Rinna, just focus on your own battles!" Trude shouted, grabbing her and yanking by the arm away.

"UWAH!" Rinna shouted as Trude flew towards the Starbasher with Rinna in tow. "Let go! Let go!" Then, Trude suddenly _did_ let go. "AAAAAAAAAAHHH~" Rinna shouted.

Trude reached behind her back, and much to my surprise, she pulled out _two_ kinds of machine guns-one MG42 and one MG151/20. "_Two_ machine guns?" I asked. "Who does she think she is?"

"I don't think, I know!" Trude shouted, and she immediately began shooting. Her blasts quickly pumped the Starbashers full of bullets…or rather white holes. Then, to my shock, she flipped the machine guns in her hands so she was holding them by the barrels. She raised them over her head and flew towards the Starbashers, and then smashed the drums into the Starbashers' heads, crushing them instantaneously. Rinna followed by taking out her own MG42 and blasting the crystals to pieces.

Trude spiraled upwards, right behind one Starbasher that was slow to turn around. "SOGOYA (Take this)!" Trude shouted, and she smashed the drums of her guns into the Starbasher, crushing it completely and blasting it into white dust.

Minna leveled her own gun (also a MG42) and blasted away, smashing the Starbashers' armor. "We can't keep going like this," she said. Suddenly, she seemed to notice something, and suddenly deployed a blue shield that was similar to Yoshika's, except the design on it was different. Sure enough, a shadow missile smashed against her shield.

"We can launch our own attacks now!" Axel said. "And now I know where the core is…" He pointed his hand at a group of Starbashers. "Ketatamashi Getsu!" Axel's beams pierced the crystals, and the Starbashers were destroyed.

"I guess that's the problem with becoming Neuroi," Yoshika said. "They have the same weakness as regular Neuroi: the core. But how did they become Neuroi in the first place?"

"Well…" Axel quickly explained how the Mario Clone made the robots Neuroi. "But there's no logic in how they were able to become Neuroi just by having shadow energy put into their systems and armor."

"Maybe Neuroi are of shadow themselves," Yoshika suggested, flying out of the way of a shadow bomb. Suddenly Axel pulled her down. "Hey-!"

"Create a shield _now_," Axel said. "Aeron's going to make things a little messy here."

"Quite right," Aeron said. "Land now, and shield yourselves. Or else…" Gold lightning crackled around his sword. "I can't guarantee that you'll get out of this unscathed."

The girls quickly landed and made shields. The rest of us hid behind their shields.

"Good," Aeron said. "Now…it's time for things to get serious. Time to whip up a Storm!"

Aeron raised his sword, pointing it towards the sky, and gold lightning coursed around it, now threatening to blast out unexpectedly. "Raikou Amimono (Lightning Web)!"

The lightning suddenly _did_ crackle out. It blasted in all directions, smashing into the Starbashers and blasting massive holes in their armor. Some of them blasted against our shields as well. Minna (who was right next to me) blocked them successfully, but she seemed to be getting taxed by having to block attacks of that magnitude.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Y-yeah," Minna said, pushing against a stray lightning bolt. Then Aeron's attack ended, and Minna immediately opened fire. Several crystals shattered, and several Starbashers with them.

Yoshika flew into action and tried to shoot the Starbashers' cores, but they were rapidly regenerating even before she started shooting. "There's no end to them!" she shouted frantically.

"Then fight harder!" Trude shouted, leveling her machine guns. She blasted away at the cores, destroying them.

"Barkhorn-san, you seem a bit reckless today," Sanya said, flying after her and shooting rockets at the ones that had almost fully regenerated. "Please don't do anything rash, it worries me."

"I…I…uh…sorry?…Um…er…well, we just have to fight harder, okay?" Trude stammered, blushing. She quickly looked away, flipped her machine gun again and hammered a crystal to pieces.

"Barkhorn-san, look out!" Yoshika suddenly shouted.

"Wha-" Trude looked up and realized that a storm of beams was headed straight towards her. She immediately deployed a shield, but it wouldn't expand to its full size in time.

Yoshika, who already had her own shield activated, raced in front and the Neuroi beams smashed against the shield harmlessly. "Barkhorn-san, are you alright?"

"I…er…thanks…" Trude said quickly, and she flew off.

"What's with her and those two?" I wondered as I punched a crystal into pieces. "Trude, I mean."

Rinna giggled. "Trude's a Siscon, you know," she said. "And if you don't know what that means…well, she turns clumsy…worried…doting…blah blah blah…in the presence of younger sisters. And those two trigger her Siscon mode for some reason that I will reveal when I feel like it."

"Whatever," I said. "We've wiped out almost all of them! Let's keep going!"

"Whatevs," Rinna said, and then suddenly began to generate a whole ton of red energy. "Let's just end this quick." Then red flame began to gather at her hands, and she put them together and raised them. The flames continued to intensify. More flames raced to swirl around her entire body."HaaaaAAAAAAA~" Rinna shouted."Rinna, NO!" Minna shouted. "I TOLD YOU NOT TO DO T-"'

"Burn Bullet!" Rinna shouted, and then launched herself at the Starbashers, a massive flaming storm whipping around her, utterly destroying the remaining ones.

"Whoa…" Mario said. Suddenly, a Launch Star appeared. "Hey, there's the Launch Star!"

"And there you have it," Rinna said. "That's the awesomeness of Rinna Skyweilder Wilcke."

"_BAKA _(idiot)! I TOLD YOU NOT TO USE THAT MOVE!" Minna shouted, smashing her fist down on Rinna's head.

"WAAAAAAH~MINNA HIT ME~" Rinna shouted, somehow going chibi.

"What the heck?" Mario shouted. "Chibi?"

"WAAAAAAH~" Rinna shouted in a high pitched voice, flying around.

"I knew this would happen," Trude muttered, and she grabbed Rinna by the collar of her shirt.

"AAAAH LET GO LET GO LET GO!" Rinna shouted.

"Well, the Neuroi have been eliminated," Sanya said. "Should we return to base now, Minna-san?"

"We sh-" Minna's eyes suddenly narrowed, and she whirled. There were MANY, MANY random robot guys there.

"Where did _they_ come from?" Yoshika asked.

"Wherever they came from," Mario said, bracing himself. "They're going back."

"No wait, Mario, we have to go get the Grand Star!" I shouted.

"But-"

"Tell you what," Minna said. "_We'll_ take these guys on. You go and get what you need to get."

"Will you be alright?" Axel asked, picking up Terra.

"We'll be just fine. We've seen MUCH worse," Minna said, smiling. Then she went back to commander mode. "Strike Witches, prepare for battle!"

"_Yokai!_" they all shouted, and began shooting at the robots.

"May we meet again," Aeron said to Minna (who nodded at him) before blasting off with the Launch Star.

"Later, Strike Witches!" Axel said, racing after Aeron.

"Are you ready, Mario?" I asked.

"Ready," Mario said. "We'll see this one out, right Luigi?"

"Right," I said. "Let's a go!"

So we blasted off in the Launch Star to our final destination in The Region of Earth.


	11. To be a True Shining Star

**And this was the finisher for the Region of the Earth. The moment when we'd finally get the Grand Star.**

**And with that came the gateway to another place: The Region of Light.**

**Terra would finally get the confidence she needed to become a True Shining Star, but there was something else we could look forward to:**

**There were ten Shining Stars. And we found the way to finding the other nine.**

* * *

**Traveler's Log 09: To be a True Shining Star**

**Stars: 08**

**Terra**

* * *

I'm sorry, everyone. Aeron was going to write this log, but everyone insisted that I write it and he write the next one. They say I was crucial in this…I really don't think so. I'm not proud of my role. All I know is that I will try my absolute hardest to never fall to despair ever again, like I did here. I can't ever do it again; otherwise I may jeopardize my friends. And where would they be then?

I woke up to find Axel carrying me…and we were flying through space.

"Did we defeat the Starbashers?" I asked weakly. After creating all those emeralds, I felt like I had no energy at all. And…well, if you think about it…that was exactly the case.

"Yeah," Axel said. "But…you won't be able to fight for a while. You exerted your power _way_ too quickly. So it'll put too much strain on your body and spirit if you keep trying to make emeralds."

"_H-hai _(okay)…" I said. I couldn't help noticing that Axel seemed a bit distant. He wasn't looking at me. But I was too shy to say anything.

I looked ahead, and gasped. There was the massive three legged robot I had seen before! And we were flying straight towards it! "Are we really going to fight it?" I asked.

"Yes," Axel said. "We _will_ fight it. There's no other choice, because the Grand Star's reiatsu is coming from inside it."

"I'll help as much as I can," I said.

"_We_ being Mario, Luigi, Aeron and myself," Axel suddenly said coldly.

"What?" I asked, shocked.

Axel still didn't look up. His eyes didn't appear to show emotion. "You've exhausted your spirit energy. You won't be able to help us one bit."

"But, I-" I began. Why was Axel being so cold? Did he know what was coming?

"No buts," Axel said. "You will stay out of it." He finally _did _look at me, but I'd prefer it if he didn't. There was so much stuff in his eyes that was deep and dark and sad, I can't mention it all. All I can say without haunting myself is that I that he actually wasn't someone I could argue with. "And that's an order."

"H-hai…" I said shakily. I couldn't believe how he was acting when he acted so much differently before…he seemed like a (somewhat goofy) friend to all, and more importantly, someone you could count on to back you no matter what. Now he seemed more like some military general.

Was there a side of Axel that I didn't know?

"We're nearing it…" we heard Aeron say from up ahead. "We're here! Wait, what is _that_?"

As we landed with a jarring impact on the hard metal ground, we saw some yellow sphere up above. But then we saw that one section of it was glass, and inside a cockpit with red cushions was…Bowser's son, Bowser Jr.!

"It's Junior!" Mario shouted. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Ahahahaha!" Bowser Jr. laughed. "I was overseeing my base, of course. But idiots like _you_ wouldn't know! And you'll never get my Grand Star! If you please…"

"Sure," we heard, and then we saw the Mario Clone on an Airship. "Hey guys. So you were able to take out the Starbashers, huh?"

"It's you again!" Luigi shouted, seeming angry…but also I could tell he was hiding something. There was _definitely_ a connection between him and the clone. "What're you gonna do now? Chuck a robot at us?"

"Exactly," the Clone said. "Junior, let's leave it to Megaleg. The boss is calling for us to do something, and fighting these guys isn't worth our time and trouble."

"Megaleg?" I asked. "What's that? Is it-" I suddenly realized with horror what it would be.

"You're right," the Clone said. "Except with a twist!" And then he raised his hand, and shadow whirled around it. Then he sent it flying at the planet we were on!

"Dodge it!" Mario shouted.

"No!" I shouted. "He's going to-" But no one listened. They all dashed away, and it struck the planet, where it moved like a black mass across the ground. "Someone stop it!" I shouted.

"What can we do?" Luigi asked. "If we do anything, we'll be corrupted!"

"But if we don't…" I looked helplessly at the black as it seeped into the robot's legs. "The robot will become Neuroi!"

The others caught on. "Oh, (explicative removed), no…" Axel said.

The black coursed through the robot's entire body. Then suddenly, its eyes glowed red, and it slowly began to shake as it activated and black peeled away from it, revealing the black with gray hexagons that marked Neuroi. Red patches were all over its body, showing where the Neuroified robot would fire beams from.

"Go at 'em, Megaleg!" Bowser Jr. shouted. "Crush 'em under your feet with the power of your Grand Star! Ahahahaha!" And he flew away.

"_Sayonara_ (goodbye), Mario!" the clone shouted, and he flew away as well.

"Ergh…when I get my hands on those two…" Mario growled.

"There's no time for that!" Axel shouted. "We have a much more present problem and we have to resolve it _now_!"

Megaleg glowered at us, and slowly began to walk towards us, shooting Neuroi Beams.

"This can't be good," Aeron said.

* * *

**Boss: Megaleg**

Megaleg had a cluster of lasers on his underside, along with three Bill Blasters that were mounted on a turret of sorts. He immediately fired Bullet Bills at us.

"Run for it!" Mario shouted.

"Don't we have to go onto his leg?" Luigi asked as we began to flee from the Bullet Bills, who were beginning to follow us.

"No good," Aeron said. "There are way too many lasers on the leg. If we were to walk on it, we'd get fried.

"There has to be a way to get on safely, though!" Luigi shouted.

"Well, you're the calculations guy," Aeron said. "You figure it out!"

"Right!" Luigi said. "Hold on…"

We ran around the planet, running away from Megaleg's lasers. We ran into several dome like cages. "What are these for?" I asked.

"Who knows?" Mario asked. "All I know is that they can be destroyed by Bullet Bills! But what's in them?" He ran from a Bullet Bill, towards the cage, and then suddenly dove around it. The Bullet Bill just took a straight path and smashed into the cage, showing a weird device was inside it.

"Don't know what it is, but…" Mario took out his hammer. "I'm gonna destroy it!" He brought the hammer down, crushing the device. Suddenly, several of the red panels on Megaleg blackened, and they no longer shot lasers.

"That's it!" Luigi shouted. "The cages on the planet contain generators! They provide power to Megaleg's lasers on all his legs! If we destroy the generators, we can shut off the lasers on his legs!"

"Why would they put generators on the planet?" Axel wondered. "Wouldn't he just step on them?"

"I'm sure the AI in him would prevent him from doing that," Luigi said.

Almost immediately, a shadow loomed above a cage. And it went down, crushing the cage as well as the generator inside it. Immediately, some more of the red panels blackened. About half of them had gone black by now.

"I rest my case," Axel said smugly. He seemed a lot more like his regular self now.

"So we guide Megaleg and the Bullet Bills into them," Aeron said. "That's easy." He ran underneath Megaleg's main body, but then noticed something. "Huh? What the-"

A gear on Megaleg's underside was turning and turning…and there were many laser panels on it! They all fired beams at once…and the beams all hit each other…right in front of the Bill Blaster?

"The heck?" I asked. Then suddenly the Bill Blaster pointed at Aeron!

"_Shiwata!"_ Aeron shouted. (I think I'm not allowed to say the word, so I won't provide a translation.)

The Bill Blaster blasted three Bullet Bills, and a massive blast of Neuroi beam and concussive force smashed into Aeron. "UWAH!" we heard Aeron shout.

"Aeron!" I shouted. I tried to run towards him, but then suddenly I collapsed. "Ah…what?" All this time, Axel had been carrying me. And now when I tried, I couldn't move on my own?

Axel stood over me. "This is why I didn't want you fighting," he said sternly. "Aeron should be alright, but you…you won't be for a while." He dashed off towards where Aeron was.

Almost instantly, the Bill Blaster pointed at him and fired Bullet Bills at him. Axel helped Aeron up. "Aeron, you okay?"

"Yeah," Aeron said. "Sheesh, that hit a lot harder than I thought it would." But I saw something strange…Aeron's injuries were rapidly fading!

"Wha-his injuries…" I whispered.

"So Aeron has regeneration?" Luigi shouted.

"Yeah," Axel said. "Now I got a Bu-no, _three_ Bullet Bills on my tail! Gotta run!" And he dashed off, with the Bullet Bills trailing him. He jumped over a cage, and the Bullet Bills crashed into it. Axel slashed the generator in half with his Zanpaku-to.

"Easy," Axel said.

I tried to get up, but my body wouldn't work well. It was too tired to do anything. _Why?_ I thought. _Why won't anything-even my own body and spirit-allow me to protect? Am I too weak? And…_

_Am I even worthy of being called a Shining Star?_

"Mario, Luigi, there are 2 generators left," Axel said. "You get Bullet Bills to attack that one over there. Aeron, help me take this one out."

"Right!" everyone shouted. Mario and Luigi guided a Bullet Bill into the generator's cage, then smashed it with their hammers.

Axel and Aeron guided another Bullet Bill into the other one, and then slashed the generator in half.

All the red panels on Megaleg blacked out. Megaleg wobbled, but regained its balance and began walking towards us.

"Now's the time!" Mario shouted. "We gotta climb now!"

"What about me?" I asked. No one had tried to help me up. _Am I destined to just be a burden who can't do anything?_

Axel looked at the others. "What should we do?"

"Aw…" Aeron muttered something and picked me up and set me on his back. Then he ran back to the others. "Let's go, guys," he said.

But this was easier said than done. We had to avoid Megaleg's Bullet Bills and the lasers on his underside, and also he was constantly moving his legs. They were very long and carried him a long distance. We couldn't keep up.

"Screw it," Axel said. "Aeron, we'll use _Shun-po_ (flash step) to get to there before he can!"

"Right!" Aeron shouted. "Everyone hold on!" He grabbed onto Mario, and Axel grabbed onto Luigi.

There was nothing I knew I could do. I just held onto Aeron tighter, hoping he wouldn't drop me.

Suddenly, Axel and Aeron blurred, and it felt like we were being pulled through a straw…like in a really tight space. Then the world stopped blurring, and we were right in front of Megaleg's foot!

"How did…?" Mario gaped.

"More later. He's going to lift his foot!" Axel shouted. He jumped onto the foot. But then it _did_ lift, and we were left behind!

"Axel!" Aeron shouted.

"Guys!" Axel shouted. "What should I do?"

"Just head up there and tell us what you find!" Aeron shouted. "We'll join you shortly!" He ran off, with the Mario Bros. lagging behind.

"Will he be alright?" I asked, concerned. Even with that change in his personality, I still didn't believe Axel was a jerk that acted like Napoleon.

"Axel's formidable. He'll be just fine…" Aeron's voice trailed off when we noticed that on Megaleg's "thighs" were many rotating gears. They _all_ had laser panels on them!

"Axel, look out!" Aeron shouted. "The thighs all have laser panels!"

"Whatever!" we heard Axel shout. "Bullet Bills are here! What's taking you so long?"

"I'm going up this leg!" Mario shouted. He jumped on a foot when it suddenly began to rise…although it was a different foot from the one Axel got on. "Guys, hurry!" Mario stuck out his hand and managed to grab Luigi and pull him up before the foot lifted too high off the ground.

"So I'm last," Aeron said. "I'll have to move quickly." He grabbed my ankles tighter and then blurred.

"Oh, no…" I groaned. Then the world blurred and we shot to right next to another foot. Aeron quickly jumped up onto it and ran up the metal lattice platform.

"Cool, these legs defy gravity!" Aeron said. "This shouldn't be too hard-"

"Aeron, aren't those Bill Blasters?" I asked, pointing at some cylindrical objects.

"Crap," Aeron said. "This is gonna get messy. Wait…where are the others?"

"Oh no," I said. "Did we all go on separate legs?"

"Seems that way," Aeron said. "Terra, things are going to get rocky. So hang on tight. And…Axel is going to massacre me…do what you can to help."

"But…" I stared at him. "I've depleted my power. I can't even stand on my own…how can I do anything to help?" _I'm just a burden now…_

"Terra," Aeron said, cutting me off. "Do you realize what you're doing? You're giving in to despair."

I stopped in shock. _I did what I swore not to do…what was I doing?_

"Well, here we go," Aeron said. He dashed forward as fast as he could. The Bill Blasters fired their Bullet Bills, and Aeron raised his sword to retaliate. "_Ikazuchi Chikara_!" he shouted. He fired the lightning blast, but then…the Bullet Bills flew away from the attack!

"What?" I shouted. "They dodged?"

"Bullet Bills don't usually dodge!" Aeron shouted. "What's going on here!"

Meanwhile, Axel, Mario and Luigi all appeared to be having problems. Mario and Luigi were running around away from the Bullet Bills, but more and more were coming. Axel was blasting them all down with _Boruto no Kage_, but more were coming as he went.

"No choice…" I said. "I'll have to do it! Aeron, is there a way for me to regain spirit energy?"

"I'll supply you with my own," Aeron replied. "Do what you plan to do."

Aeron began to emit a green and gold reiatsu. I stared. It was mostly emerald, like my own.

"Go, Terra!" Aeron shouted. "We all believe in you!"

"Does everyone really…?" I asked, feeling Aeron's reiatsu raise my own by a lot.

"We're counting on you!" Luigi shouted. "Anything to stop the swarm of them!"

"All right…" I closed my eyes, and many emeralds that were about the size of 1-Up mushrooms appeared in midair. Then they surged towards the Bill Blasters.

"All of them at the Bill Blasters?" Mario shouted. "Why?"

I looked over at Axel. He was watching, looking kind of angry. But there was something else in his eyes…support for me? I felt stronger seeing that look. Then I had the emeralds surge towards the Bill Blasters at an even greater speed.

The Bullet Bills suddenly veered off course and attacked the emeralds to save their launchers. They exploded, taking emeralds down. But I kept up the barrage, and soon the emeralds crashed into the Bill Blasters, plugging them up.

"It's done," I said, feeling exhausted after using an attack of that caliber, although it would have been worse if Aeron hadn't been helping. "Aeron, are you alright?"

"Yeah," Aeron said. "I've got a whole ton of reiatsu with me, so I'm not that tired."

"Oh…I'm glad to hear it…" I said. But I couldn't help feeling jealous. Aeron and Axel had so much more power than I did, and anything I did sapped my power quickly. They had much more confidence and were smarter than I was. I felt overshadowed by them. But I couldn't bring myself to tell them that.

"Let's keep going," Aeron said. He ran over the kneecap and towards the thigh.

"Aeron, NO!" I shouted. But I was too late. Aeron's foot landed on a gear…and on the red panels.

**ZOW!**

"AAAARRRGGGHH!" Aeron shouted, and he toppled off the leg and onto the ground.

"Aaaaaa…" I shouted as we fell, worried for my safety. But then I suddenly looked at Aeron's leg, and saw it was horribly burned. I knew that Aeron couldn't do anything for a while until he regenerated, but we were very vulnerable to attack until then.

I rotated us in midair so that I'd take the impact of landing. It was the least I could do.

I winced as we landed on my shoulder. But then I saw the lasers on Megaleg's underside firing so that all their beams would clash, and then rotating its Bill Blaster towards us. I knew I couldn't let it hit us, but now I felt weak after Aeron stopped supplying power to me. Aeron's leg was healing, but Aeron himself was unconscious somehow. The odds were definitely against us.

_It's over…we've lost. I'm sorry, Aeron…I wasn't able to protect you or anyone else. I'm sorry, Axel…I should have listened to you. I wasn't ready to enter battle again._

_Mario and Luigi, I'm sorry…I wasn't able to fulfill my role as a Shining Star. I wasn't able to use my power to help you well…and now you'll have to continue on without me. I'm sorry I was a burden._

The Bill Blaster fired. The attack blasted towards us.

_It's over…sumimasen, minasen (Sorry, everyone)…_

"TERRA!"

I opened my eyes in shock. Axel was standing high above on another leg, looking angrily at me.

"Terra, _this_ is why I told you to stay back and not enter the fight!" Axel shouted. "Just look at yourself! Inside…you've ceased to walk forward! You've let despair swallow you!"

My eyes widened in shock. "I…I gave in to despair for real…how could I have…"

"If you think you're a burden and don't try to _not_ be so, then you really _are _a burden!" Axel shouted. "This is what happens to people who don't walk forward and try to improve! They don't help anyone! They only sit around uselessly! Shining Stars…" I suddenly saw sadness form in his eyes. "…don't let despair pull them down!"

_I ceased to walk forward…I let despair swallow me…I really did become a burden right there…_ I thought sadly. _But if I think I'm a burden and don't try to redeem myself, I really _am _a burden…that means only one thing._

_I will walk forward. I will never let despair catch me._

Suddenly, I noticed something…green light? Yes, green light was shining around me. I looked around. Massive emeralds had appeared, blocking the laser. More emeralds laced around Megaleg's legs, holding it in place. It was caught.

I picked up Aeron and ran up a leg as Megaleg tried to break free. It didn't matter that I was with almost no energy at all. It didn't matter that I couldn't stand, much less carry Aeron. It didn't matter that what I was about to do would cause me to most likely get fried. None of that mattered now.

"I will never give up!" I shouted. "I will always walk forward! This way…I _will_ fulfill my role as a Shining Star!"

I jumped into the air, and drew my fist back, falling towards the kneecap. Beams shot at me, but not a single one of them hit me. I couldn't allow it.

_The Shining Stars…they have elemental powers. There are ten of them, each with unique powers. And this is mine…earth! This is why I was able to create emeralds. It's is why I was able to make seismic waves. And it's why I was able to use the earth under our enemies' feet against him. And I'll use my power to protect…no matter what may happen to me!_

I brought my fist down on Megaleg's kneecap, feeling something strange coming from it. Then I channeled the biggest seismic wave I had ever created into it.

**BLAM!**

Megaleg rocked and buckled. Some of the laser panels on its legs blackened. Then the leg I was on buckled and fell, unable to be used anymore.

"Great job, Terra!" Mario shouted.

"Awesome!" Luigi shouted. "So the kneecaps have generators as well. Destroy them, and we can get to Megaleg's main body!"

I looked at Axel, but he wasn't looking at me…I thought he was trying to concentrate. Anyway, he jumped high into the air and brought his fist back, accumulating silver energy. "_Tsukiren!_"

"Ground-pound!" Mario shouted. Luigi followed suit. And through our combined efforts, all the kneecaps got destroyed.

The remaining red panels blackened. Megaleg buckled, and all his legs buckled. He crashed down, and his legs lay uselessly on the ground. This meant its no longer had access to the Bill Blaster and the lasers on his underside. Only the weapons on his main body were able to be used.

"Charge!" Axel shouted. We ran over the legs, but the gears were still turning. As one gear turned to go underneath the leg, I lost my balance and fell, down, down, down…

A hand caught me.

"Uh-what?" I looked up. It was Aeron. He had regained consciousness and grabbed onto a gear.

"Terra, you've not only got a power unique to yourself throughout the cosmos," Aeron said. "…but also the potential and resolve to be as strong as myself at this point." He smiled. "Learn to use it to protect others. Always." Before I could say anything, he threw me upwards.

"AAAAAAA~" I created emeralds to stop myself from falling, and jumped off them to land on the main body. The gear Aeron was holding onto reached that point where it couldn't be used as a handhold, and he fell, smiling at me. Then I saw that his leg was still regenerating. "Aeron!" I shouted.

"Good luck!" Aeron shouted. "I'll join you soon!"

"_Hai_!" I shouted, and I ran along the main body. Red panels were everywhere, and they began shooting beams at me. But I quickly jumped out of the way of each of them. Then I saw Axel, Mario, and Luigi getting onto the main body. "You guys!" I shouted. "Mario! Luigi! Ax-"

Axel's hand whipped up.

**THWAK!**

Pain seared through the side of my face, and I suddenly saw to my right. "Wha-"

"You fool!" Axel shouted at me. "Do you realize that if you did all the things you did, you could have killed yourself many times, although Aeron would have held? Don't you realize that that would mean you couldn't protect anyone?"

I looked at him, rubbing the spot where he hit me. "As a Shining Star, you are one of the only people who can protect this universe from Bowser!" Axel said, though his face showed more concern than anger. "Don't be so eager to throw your life away, for the sake of this universe and also your friends! We've been together for a while now, and it almost feels like we're family now! Do you have any idea…" A tear fell from his eye. "…how much it would hurt to me if someone who I felt like was like a little sister to me died?"

"I'm sorry…" I said. "I…I forgot that we were family…" I smiled at him. "We'll protect everyone together, right?"

Axel looked at me. "Right," he said, smiling. "Now let's go, everyone!"

"No, it's 'Let's-a go!'" Mario shouted, and we ran across Megaleg's body.

Neuroi beams fired at us as we dashed along. But then I noticed that there were many cylindrical devices around…Bill Blasters! And then I turned and saw that there was a large dome-like cage on the top of Megaleg. Inside that cage was a glass dome, which held…a massive golden star-shaped object with eyes and spheres on the end.

"That's the Grand Star!" I shouted.

"I see it!" Axel said. "And to break the cage…" He ran over to a Bill Blaster and guided a Bullet Bill. However, lasers fired, and Axel dodged out of the way, but then they blasted the Bullet Bill by mistake!

"Oops," Axel said. "Someone get another one!"

"Right!" Luigi shouted, and he began to guide a Bullet Bill. But then another one from another place attacked him, and he had to run as a third got on his trail.

"I'll try it!" I shouted. But I ran away quickly as the Bullet Bill came out, and then the Bullet Bill harmlessly went into space.

Axel tried again, but he went away too quickly. The Bullet Bill smashed against Megaleg's own body, but no damage was done to it. "Dang it!" Axel shouted.

"You idiots! _This_ is how to do it!" Mario shouted, and he guided a Bullet Bill along, dodging lasers. They zinged at Mario, but he jumped out of the way of some and smashed the ones he couldn't dodge away with his hammer. Then he landed right in front of the cage, and waited. The Bullet Bill came closer…

Mario dove away at the last second as the Bullet Bill came closer, and the cage broke.

"We did it!" Luigi shouted. But his smile quickly faded as alarms sounded. "Uh…oh…"

New cage walls popped up. There were only five, and six would make no spaces between them, but they were arranged so that the spaces between them were very small. And on top of that, these were more durable than the ones before!

"So that's how it wants to play, huh?" Axel asked as new red patches appeared as well as a higher level of Bill Blasters. But then all of them fired, and we were running away from a storm of Bullet Bills and dodging lasers everywhere!

Luigi jumped out of the way of a laser and squeezed between cage walls. But then the Bullet Bills hit and exploded against the cage walls. "They can resist Bullet Bills!" Luigi shouted. "This is gonna be hard!"

"Axel," I shouted. "Why don't you use _Ketatamashi Getsu_?"

"That attack is meant to pierce through defenses and destroy vital parts," Axel said. "However, doing that would mean destroying the Grand Star. So I can't use _Ketatamashi Getsu_ this time."

"Oh, I see," I said. "But how do we destroy the dome that the Grand Star's in?"

"We lure a Bullet Bill past the cage walls and into the dome," Axel said. "Easier said than done. But there's no point in not trying." He dodged a laser and the lured a Bullet Bill through the cage walls. But then it exploded harmlessly a couple centimeters away from the dome!

"What?" I asked. "There's a shield?"

"Apparently," Axel said, frowning. "This is gonna be hard…"

"Luigi!" I shouted. "What's the shield's weakness?"

"Hold on!" Luigi shouted. "I gotta analyze it for a bit…defend me while I do so!"

"Right!" I shouted. I formed emeralds and sent them flying to split beams apart and destroy Bullet Bills.

"Any results yet?" Axel asked, dodging a Neuroi Beam.

"Hey, I started, like, 10 seconds ago!" Luigi shouted. "Cut me some slack!"

I jumped to dodge a Bullet Bill that was coming my way and that I missed. But then I saw that if I dodged it, it would hit…

I quickly jumped upwards and used a seismic wave through a kick. Which was a pretty not good idea.

**BOOOOOOM!**

A searing pain immediately filled my leg as I fell. I guess there's a lot more force to Bullet Bill explosions than I thought.

"Terra!" Mario shouted. "Are you alright?"

"Oh…y-yeah…I'm okay, I guess…" I said, but I really didn't feel that way. But things were about to get even worse. I saw that there was a red hexagon underneath me…

**ZOW!**

More searing pain. But this time it was in my shoulder. Let's not even say how painful it was.

Axel quickly pulled me away from the laser panel. "Be careful, Terra," he said. "I'll hold them off for a while."

But what Axel didn't know was that a beacon on the top of the glass dome suddenly was beginning to flash. Suddenly, it emitted a cutting red laser!

"Look out!" Luigi shouted, and he jumped away from the attack. But Axel was too busy blocking Neuroi beams to do anything about it.

"Terra!" Mario shouted. "You have to stop the laser!"

"What can I do?" I asked. "I have nothing on hand, and my energy is dangerously low!"

_No, wait…do I have anything on hand?_

I looked down at my hands. And then I remembered my bracelets.

_I'll have to chance it. This is probably the reason why I like emeralds._

I concentrated on the bracelets, and then suddenly the air around them crystallized. The emeralds expanded into massive shields!

_It's so heavy…_I buckled as they expanded to over a meter in diameter. I couldn't hold that much on my own.

Suddenly, the shield lifted up further! I looked to my side. Aeron was there! He was helping me raise the shield.

I looked at him. He smiled. "Did you think I was gone for good?"

The laser hit the shield and began to cut through it. But then I threw my energies into the shield, and the attack ceased to do anything to it. I pushed harder against the laser._ I…will…not…fall to this!_

Then I dashed forward, pushing the _laser_ back. "HAAAAAAH!" I shouted.

I jumped high into the air, and drew my fist back. The emeralds shrank to their normal size. But before they did, I knew there was only one way to effectively end this. I raised my left hand…and used a sharp edge of an emerald to cut my own right wrist.

"The heck?" Mario shouted. "Terra, why did you cut yourself?"

Axel and Aeron stared in shock. "This can only be…" Axel said.

"Yes," Aeron said. "When one's own blood, where reishi (spirit particles) flow freely, is mixed with an attack…its power is amplified to skyrocketing levels."

Blood did come out, but oddly, it was green-possibly a reflection of my own reiatsu? I winced. Who knew it hurt so much to cut yourself?

But I knew what had to be done. I whipped my hand, sending blood into the air. Then I generated a sphere of green energy in my hand, whipping it through the air and catching the blood. "Megaleg!" I shouted. "I'm sorry, but I've decided it's time you go to the junkyard! _SOGOYA!_"

The energy began to vibrate. _Now's the time! _I thought. I quickly clenched my fist around the energy, and green reiatsu erupted from me, violently vibrating the area around me. Large emerald crystals encrusted around my right arm. I surged towards the dome. Megaleg sensed danger, and blasted the beacon laser at me.

I was unable to defend myself, I had put every single bit of energy I had into the attack. The laser blasted my left hand. Pain seared through my body, but I didn't pay it any mind. I just concentrated, let myself fall towards Megaleg's dome…and punched hard.

**KRAKKA-KRAKKA-BOOM!**

My hand crashed into the shield, and the energy blasted out, unleashing a massive seismic wave that decimated the shield. Megaleg and the planet it resided on rocked violently. But that was not the worst to come.

I surged forward as the shield fell, and my hand crashed into the dome itself. Emeralds exploded outward, shattering the dome's glass. It was over. The Grand Star was free.

The Grand Star floated away, and Megaleg suddenly lost all its power. It vibrated violently, and then exploded, sending its pieces flying into space. Then they all exploded.

I was sent flying as its head struck me and sent me flying upwards. But I didn't feel much hurt. In fact, I didn't feel anything from any of my injuries.

All I felt was exhausted-more than I had ever felt before. I had exerted everything I had in that attack. And now I couldn't do anything as I neared the edge of the gravity field of the planet.

_But I was able to save the Grand Star, and Axel, and Aeron, and Mario and Luigi too…for that, I'm thankful._

Suddenly, everything I saw had a gold tint. I was carried gently down to the ground. "What…who?" I looked around and saw the Grand Star gently pulling me down to the ground safely along with it. I had saved the Grand Star…and now it saved me.

I smiled at it. "_Arigado (thank you)…_" I whispered.

"Terra!" Mario shouted, running over. "You look totally totaled!"

"I'll be just fine," I said. "I'm happy that I was able to protect…Axel, sorry I got so eager to throw my life away again. But I'm back, and still alive."

Axel looked angry at first. But then his expression changed, and I could tell his anger was rapidly evaporating.

"While Axel has a mood swing," Aeron said. "I guess we should go back to Starship Mario. Then we'll take a rest."

"What?" I said. "But…I had one just before we came here…"

"Terra," Aeron said. "You need rest a lot more than any of us. You exert your power as much as possible and do everything in your power. And after it all, you get exhausted. Besides," Aeron said. "Once again, you've been the one who helped us win. You deserve it."

"Oh…" I smiled. "Thanks, Aeron. Let's go back."

"Goodbye, Robot Reactor!" Mario said. "It's time for us to walk forward!"

All of us smiling, we reached out to get the Grand Star.

**WE GOT A GRAND STAR!**

* * *

As we headed back towards Starship Mario, Axel leaned in close to me. "Terra," he said. "I'm sorry about how I acted earlier. I was worried that you really _would_ die there. Believe me," he said, looking away sadly. "I once had a sister, and she actually did die. She sacrificed herself to defeat a great evil. And I didn't want you to sacrifice yourself."

I looked at him, speechless. When I finally could speak, I whispered: "So that's why you didn't want me fighting…you were afraid to lose someone else that you cared about."

"I'm always afraid of losing them," Axel said. "There's more to me than you think. Aeron and I, we have lived much longer than you'd think. We've seen things you definitely do not want to see. Even we," Axel said, looking down. "give in to despair."

I stared at him, shocked. "You, of all people, give in to despair? But-"

"We're no different from you when it comes down to our hearts," Axel said solemnly. "And we fight for the same reasons you do: to protect."

"Oh…" I said. "Well, I'm sorry about your sister."

Axel smiled. "Oh, that's all right," he said. "One year ago, I made a wonderful discovery: she got reincarnated."

"EH?" I shouted. "Reincarnated? Is that even possible?"

"Yes," Axel said. "Stars die and explode into stardust, and then they eventually come together to form new stars. And so they are reborn over and over and over. Souls are reborn as well sometimes. But I'll explain later." He turned. "Look. We've returned."

"WHOA!" I heard Lubba shout. "WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?"

I looked around. We were back at Starship Mario. "Sorry, Lubba," I said. "I was doing my duty as a Shining Star." I stood up as tall as I could with my injuries. "I can now do it. I can proudly say: 'I am a Shining Star' and back it up, too. I will never, _ever_ fall to despair. And that's a promise."

Suddenly, the Grand Star began to glow and spin into the air. Soon, it became a sphere of gold in the air.

"Here we go!" Mario shouted. "Connecting…"

The Grand Star was now a whirling sphere of gold throwing off light. Then it suddenly exploded in a pulse of energy outwards!

"What?" I shouted. "It exploded!"

Then it happened. Blue energy began to fill the air. It all came together around a swirling green sphere that was beginning to take form. And then the green swirl and blue lines came together, and then a swirling massive sea green sphere was born.

"What is…that?" I asked.

"It's a portal," Lubba said. "Now we can go to another Region altogether. One by one, we will collect all the Grand Stars. Then the universe will be connected again."

"That's great," I said. "Now let's g-"

"3…2…1…" Aeron was saying as I said that. And he was right that something would happen when he finished counting: I would faint.

And almost immediately, I collapsed and everything blacked out.

* * *

I woke up and found myself in bed. Again. In fact, I had been in bed after every single Star we got since I found my power of earth. It was getting old.

"Sheesh…" I muttered. "Do I have to faint or get healed after every mission when I use my power?" I tried to get up, but couldn't. Then I noticed something:

My injuries were all gone. But the energylessness was still there.

"I'm not so sure anymore," I heard. I looked up to see Axel. "After defeating Megaleg, I think your threshold has been raised," he said.

"Meaning?" I asked.

"It means you'll be able to output more of your power without fainting," Axel said. "This is what happens to those who continue to walk forward."

It took me a bit to realize he was complimenting me. "Oh…thanks…" I looked out the window, and was shocked to see many green planets in a maroon sky. "We haven't left the Region of Earth," I said.

"We decided it could wait until today," Axel said. "Yes, you slept for a good 10.5 hours without waking up."

"I've been asleep for _that_ long?" I said, bolting upright-or trying to. I was still energyless. So it didn't really work.

"But now that you're awake," Axel said. "It's time for us to move on." He held out his hand.

I hesitated, and then thought that this teenage boy…or however old he was…had helped me realize who I was, and reach my full potential. I took his hand, and he supported me as we got on deck.

"Hey, sleeping Beauty awakes!" Aeron said. Up ahead was the portal.

"Are you ready for what may come?" Mario asked.

"Yes," I said.

"Then…" Mario walked up to the wheel. "Here we go!"

And Starship Mario blasted into the portal. It was like a swirling tunnel of energy on the inside. And we came out to find blue sky!

"_Sugoi…(Amazing)!"_ I whispered. The sun was shining brightly on many galaxies. And there was not a cloud in sight. It was just infinite blue sky as far as the eye could see.

"Well, I'll be!" Lubba shouted. "It's the Region of Light! We've found the place where the light always shines!"

"This is great…" I said. It was so amazing. I just hope my vertigo wouldn't activate…

"Terra," Axel said. "Please, could you sing just one more time?"

"Sure," I said. "But which song?"

Axel took off his headphones and put them over my ears, and I heard a song. "Okay, I'll do that one," I said. "Kind of fits the mood, now that I think of it." I took the headphones off and gingerly handed them to Axel, and then I began to sing.

"_Itsuka, itsuka, yakusoku no sora…  
(Someday, someday, in the promised sky…)_

_Kimi to nara mata toberu yo!  
(If I'm with you, I can fly again!)..."_

* * *

Rosalina closed the book. "That's a good place to stop for tonight," she said. There was a collective groaning in disappointment. "Don't worry, there will be more tomorrow," she said reassuringly.

The Lumas bid her goodnight and left. Then there was only a brown one left…that was wearing an emerald bracelet.

Rosalina looked at her. "Are you pleased I decided to read this story?" she asked. "After all you'd been through…"

"I'm really happy!" the Luma said. "I want the entire universe to know how bold Terra was in danger's face. Goodnight, Mama!" And she left as well.

Rosalina sighed. _The Shining Stars…they truly are remarkable people. _She got up and went to leave. _And tomorrow, light will shine on another._

* * *

**And this is the end of the Region of Earth! I hope you all enjoyed this segment, and I'm sorry if you all hated it!**

**Next time, we'll be introducing new characters, and I'd like to say I'm sorry to Tomato3456 and Jokester94n if they think I'm plagiarizing them! These characters are **_**based on**_** their own OCs, so I hope they won't flame me too much.**

**Special thanks to Ice Princess Rinna for giving me ideas to give the Strike Witches some appearances! And for letting me use her OC, Rinna! Yes, I watched Strike Witches and enjoyed it for the most part except for both Episode 7s! And I'm afraid it's M rated, so don't Google it!**

**I hope you all enjoyed. Thanks for reading it. But the Shining Stars' tale isn't done yet, you know…**

**AND REVIEW! OR ELSE! D:**


	12. The Shadowy Story of Shade

**Hello! Welcome back, and sorry for the long wait after Fanfiction started having problems! I hope you've enjoyed reading the first chapter of our Shining Stars' tale! Now it's time to progress to the next chapter: Light!**

**I warn you, though, this story is going to be a very dark one. If you cannot stand injury, despair, and ultimately, death, then I shall have to ask you to leave and not come back until you **_**can**_** handle it.**

**If you **_**can**_** stand those things, though, then…LET'S GO ON TO THE NEXT CHAPTER! XD**

**AND REVIEW!**

* * *

_Bowser's hand crashed against the armrest on his throne. "IMPOSSIBLE!" he bellowed. "How could they have not only got into the Robot Reactor, but also defeated Megaleg and stole its Grand Star? You assured me that they wouldn't be able to do a thing!"_

"_I'm sorry, Dad," Bowser Jr. said. "But…it seems that girl that's with them has a strange power. The elemental power of earth. And using this power, she was able to beat Megaleg."_

"_Hm…so she has elemental powers, eh?" Bowser mused. "Well, we'll soon get rid of that nuisance. If it's earth she has, we shall have to counter it with…shadow."_

"_You rang?" they suddenly heard. They turned to see…well, let's make it epic by saying that the figure was totally concealed in the shadows. But both Bowser and Bowser Jr. knew who it was._

"_Well, you arrived on time," Bowser said. "You remember our deal?"_

"_Yeah," the guy said. "I collect Stars for you, you give me a 72 inch Plasma screen TV."_

"_That's right," Bowser said. "And now I have a new order for you."_

"_Which is?"_

"_Mario and his band of people have taken the Grand Star from the Robot Reactor," Bowser said. "And-"_

"_Well, I'm not surprised," the guy said. "That Megaleg wasn't exactly the strongest thing we had out there."_

"_Look," Bowser snapped. "The point is, I want you to become more aggressive in your search for Stars. If you see Mario or any of his friends, attack them. Got it?"_

"_Whatevs," the guy replied. "I'm gonna leave now. So later."_

"_WHAT?" Bowser shouted. "Aren't you going to try to resolve the problem?"_

_The figure turned, eyes gleaming wickedly. "I have a resolution," he said. "Dox and I will be trying to realize it." With that, he walked further into the darkness and out of the room._

* * *

"…Mama! It's story time!"

"Ah, of course," Rosalina said, getting jolted out of her mental picture. She took _A Tale of Shining Stars_ off the shelf. "Shall we continue with this story?"

"Of course!" a Luma shouted.

Rosalina sat down in her chair and flipped to the silky turquoise bookmark that she had placed in it. "This tale will become a very dark one at this point. Are you still sure you want me to read it?"

All the Lumas nodded. "We want to finish the story!" one shouted.

Rosalina smiled and began to read…

* * *

**It was time to begin our journey in the Region of Light to save the Grand Star, reconnect the Region of Light to the rest of the universe, and find the Shining Star of Light. We would also gain some comrades, such as Yoshi and…ah, I cannot say the other one.**

**But we didn't know that we'd find another Shining Star **_**hindering**_** us…one that embodied, and had fallen to, the Shadow.**

* * *

**Traveler's Log Entry 10: The Shadowy Story of Shade**

**Stars: 09**

**Aeron**

* * *

Can't believe it. Our journey to the Region of Light should've been a good thing. But even after getting the Yoshis to help us, all we've encountered is a whole ton of (explicative removed). Mario is too angry to communicate with us, Luigi is depressed, Terra is in a state of shock from meeting _him_, and Axel and I are the only ones left with much resolve.

This is what happened after we met another Shining Star…but this one was against us. This is how we met him:

Starship Mario was flying through shining rays of light off to new galaxies, our mood still high after our recent victory.

"This will be easy!" Mario shouted, smiling. "After all, we got through the Robot Reactor without much effort!" Apparently, he was still egotistical after our victory in the Region of Earth. And he didn't contribute much.

"Says you," Luigi said. "Terra threw every bit of effort she could at Megaleg to the point where she fainted from exhaustion. In fact, we used a lot of effort."

"Whatever!" Mario shouted. "Anyway, Bowser and the rest of the Koopa Troop won't be able to stop me! Because I am so awesome!"

Axel smashed his forehead. "Why am I traveling with this idiot?"

"Um, because we all ended up getting launched into space together?" Terra said.

"Oh yeah," Axel said. "Bummer…"

"We're here!" Mario suddenly shouted.

"OH (explicative removed)!" Axel shouted, seeing doom coming for him.

The Starship abruptly stopped, sending everyone flying forward.

**CRASH!**

"WOULD YOU MIND TELLING ME WHERE YOU GOT YOUR (explicative removed) LISCENSE?" Axel demanded, getting up.

"Dude, flying Starships has nothing to do with driver's licenses for _cars_," Mario said."And anyway, I drive _karts_."

But now I was _really_ ticked off. "MARIO…" I shouted. "YOU LITTLE (explicative removed)! YOU SON OF A (explicative removed)! I AM GOING TO RIP OFF YOUR (explicatives removed) AND SHOVE IT DOWN YOUR (explicatives removed) WITH (explicatives removed) SO THEN YOU HAVE TO (explicative removed) SIDEWAYS (explicative removed) IT! THIS IS WHAT YOU (explicatives removed) GET FOR (explicative removed) SMASHING US INTO THE (explicatives removed) GUARDRAIL YOU (explicatives removed)!"…

* * *

_Several censored explicatives later…_

"…YOU (explicative removed)!"

…

"(explicative removed)!" I shouted.

Everyone was staring in horror at me. Terra's hands were over her mouth.

"Are you done?" Axel asked me. "I expect more explicatives."

"Actually, that was my last one," I said. "I just ran out."

"W-w-was th-th-that your…d-d-d-dark side, Aeron?" Terra asked nervously.

"Yes, it was," Axel said. "And it's even worse than my own. You can tell from the number of explicatives he used."

"O…k…then…" Mario said, slowly turning away. "Anyway, we're at a galaxy called Yoshi's Island. Wait…"

*insert record scratch here*

"Yoshi's Island?" Luigi said, suddenly looking worried. "That's Yoshi's home! But is Yoshi alright?"

"We'll just have to find out," Mario said. "Yoshi's our friend. We gotta go there pronto!"

"Wow, you've never been _this_ raring to go," Lubba said. "What's gotten into you?"

"I said," Mario said, sounding pretty not happy. "Yoshi's our friend! We _have_ to help him if he's in trouble! There has to be a reason why he hasn't come back to the castle since he left to see how his friends at home were doing!"

"I'm with you," I said. "We need all the Stars we can get, and Yoshi will most _certainly_ be in trouble. The Koopa Troop does that kind of stuff."

So we headed off towards Yoshi's Island. "Who is Yoshi, anyway?" Terra wondered.

"I have no idea," I said.

* * *

When we arrived, we found ourselves at the edge of a grassy island. The sun shone pretty brightly on things, and there were random fruits and…spiky plants?

"Seems pretty peaceful," Axel said. "It doesn't seem like people disturb it much."

**BOOOM!**

"Now not applying," Axel said, still as calm as he was when he was talking a second ago. "So…our next course of action?"

"Go to the place where the explosion was," Luigi said.

Well, that was easier said than done. There was mud, spiky plants, and a whole ton of other natural obstacles in our path.

"This is _so_ infuriating!" Mario shouted, trying to wade through a stream. "I don't know how Yoshi stands it!"

"Um, by the way, guys," Axel said, climbing over a ledge. "What's that egg that is currently trapped inside a Magikoopa's barrier? Or rather, a barrier that several Magikoopas made?"

"Oh, that would be-"

*insert record scratch here*

"Wait, an egg?" Luigi said. "What kind of egg?"

"It's, uh, white with green spots," Axel said.

"That's a Yoshi Egg!" Mario shouted. "Let's go!"

"Don't you mean 'Let's a go!', Mario?" Luigi asked.

"WHO CARES!" Mario shouted. "JUST ATTACK THE MAGIKOOPAS!"

"ATTACK THE SENSE BELIEVERS!" Axel and I shouted with murderous intent.

Suddenly, a Magikoopa noticed us and shouted to his comrades. Together, they began to conjure a magical barrier. We couldn't get in!

Terra ran towards the ledge…and the barrier. "Here's a new trick!" she shouted, and her reiatsu was suddenly released. Green-no, wait, EMERALD (Terra will _kill_ me if I don't say emerald) flashing around her, she smashed her foot against the ground. The ground underneath her blasted upwards, and she went flying high over the barrier, which was rapidly getting finished. And she sailed right through the hole in it…just before it closed!

"_Sogoya! _(Take this)!" Terra shouted, bringing her fist back. She punched the air, and many emeralds suddenly appeared in midair, piercing through the Magikoopas, destroying them. Terra thrust out her other hand, and she landed on the ground, but it kind of bent under her weight.

"Ah," Axel said, looking rather impressed. "She used the ground underneath her feet to catapult her into the air, and then softened the earth she was going to land on to reduce injury…Terra knows her ability well now."

"The barrier's dropping," I said. "Come on, Axel."

Mario ran over to the egg and spun, breaking it. And then…

A green dinosaur…in red boots?...jumped out of the egg, flipped in midair, and landed on one foot.

"Yoshi!" Mario shouted. "Are you alright?"

"Wha-? Mario?" Yoshi shouted. "What are you doing here? Anyway, yes, I'm completely alright. However, Bowser actually attacked the island a while ago. I heard about the attack, and so I went to help out…but then I got overwhelmed by the Magikoopas, and they trapped me in my egg. So yeah, thanks for helping me out!"

"Anytime!" Luigi said. "So that's why you didn't come back for a while!"

"Exactly!" Yoshi said. "So…I'll help you do what you need to do…wait, what _do_ you need to do?"

"Well…" Mario and Luigi explained about our mission, and introduced Terra, Axel and myself.

"Oh, so you need our Stars…" Yoshi said. "Well, if you help me drive the Koopa Troop away from this island, I'll have my buddies give you the Star!"

"Right!" Mario shouted. "Let's-a go, Yoshi!" Mario jumped onto Yoshi's back. "Come on, guys! Let's-a go!"

"He said it two times in a row," Axel muttered as we ran off. But Yoshi was _fast_. So much that he left Luigi and Terra gasping for breath when he finally stopped. Axel and I were okay, though.

"Sorry about that," Yoshi said. "Now…it looks like my friends are having problems…"

Nearby, in a flower field, Yoshis of many other colors (all except green) were throwing eggs at Hammer Bros, but the Hammer Bros. easily countered their attacks with their hammers. It was pretty clear who was going to lose.

"They're going to lose…" Yoshi's hand clenched. "Well I can't let the Koopa Troop win!" And before we could stop him, Yoshi jumped through the trees and lashed out with his tongue. He quickly grabbed a hammer out of midair and spat it back out towards a Hammer Bro. The Hammer Bro was startled by this and wasn't able to react in time.

Weirdly, the Hammer Bro got hit right between the eyes.

Yoshi's tongue whipped out, and lassoed the other Hammer Bros and threw them at each other, destroying them. Then he whirled around to face the last one, and ran towards him, dodging a hammer. He shook his head, smashing the Hammer Bro away.

"Wow!" Luigi said.

"_Sugoi (amazing)…!_" Terra shouted.

"And there you have it," Yoshi said triumphantly. "Guys, are you okay?" The other Yoshis replied happily, but none of us could understand.

"Ah…Yoshis normally can't speak English," Mario said, scratching the back of his head. "But _this_ Yoshi can."

"I'm so awesome, aren't I?" Yoshi said, beaming.

"Riiiiight," I said. "Anyways, there are bound to be more Koopa Troop elsewhere. Let's keep looking."

* * *

_And so…_

"UWAH!"

**THUD!**

Terra picked herself up after tripping on some fruit thingy and landing on her face. "_Itai_ (Japanese equivalent for "ow")…that really hurt…" She rubbed the side of her face, getting rid of some dirt stain.

"Sigh…I guess the forest wasn't the best place to look…" Yoshi said, sweatdropping.

"YOU THINK, FOOL?" I shouted, thoroughly ticked off by now. I mean, come on. You'd be ticked off too if you were running around some island you didn't know and just tripping over roots, wading through muddy streams, pushing through bushes, and in general not getting anything done.

Suddenly, there was a rustling, and then Bomb-ombs ran towards us!

"CRAP! THEY'RE GONNA BLOW!" Axel shouted.

"Yoshi, do something!" Mario shouted, cowering behind a rock.

"Hope it works…!" Yoshi lassoed a Bomb-omb with his tongue and whipped it against another one.

**BLAMM!**

A massive explosion was triggered by the Bomb-ombs colliding. And when it was over, we were all completely black.

"Cough…" Luigi sighed. "That was the worst idea anyone ever could have made."

"Never mind that, Yoshi, you did your best," Axel said. Then his expression suddenly changed. "It just wasn't _remotely_ good enough to fit my own battle standard."

"Oh, and I suppose you could do better?" Yoshi said, taking offense.

"Oh, can I?" Axel asked, grinning. "Just watch me in action."

* * *

_After getting out of the forest…_

"Guys, look!" Mario whispered. We bolted over to his side to see masked people in red robes. "Shy Guys!" Mario whispered. "They're part of the Koopa Troop!"

"But Shy Guys are just about the weakest forces in the Koopa Troop," Yoshi said. "What are they doing here?"

"Probably some menial task like securing the area," I said. "And they won't do it well." My eyes shifted towards a creek. "They won't know what hit them."

I raised my sword and then began to swing it over my head. Suddenly, the water in the creek flew out of it and began to swirl in the air!

"Uzumaki Kyouran (Whirlpool Frenzy)!" I shouted, and chopped with my sword. The water surged towards the stunned Shy Guys, spinning them around in the water. But I wasn't done. I leveled my sword at the whirlpool. "Ikazuchi Chikara (Thunder Force)!" I shouted. Lightning quickly coursed over the blade, and blasted out into the water. The water conducted the lightning and quickly created a storm of sparks.

"And that's it," I said as the lightning ended, and the Shy Guys fell, defeated.

"_Sugoi…_Aeron's so strong…" Terra whispered.

"There should be more; the Koopa Troop always has the numbers. Come on, let's go to the volcano," Yoshi said.

"Volcano?" Mario asked. "There's a volcano here?"

"DUDE," Yoshi said, obviously annoyed. "ARE YOU TELLING ME YOU COULDN'T SEE _THAT_?" He pointed to direct our attention at an enormous mountain that was spewing smoke into the air.

"Oh, right…" Mario said. Axel face palmed himself several hundred times in succession.

"Why are we on a journey with an idiot?" I wondered.

* * *

_And so…_

"Sheesh," Axel said, looking over the field near the volcano. "Goombas? They _never_ run out of 'em."

"Well," said Mario. "Bowser _does_ have several thousand Goombas to spare."

"Um, but from this, you'd think it'd be millions," Terra noted. "So…what should we do about it?"

"This," Axel said. "Boruto no Kage!" Axel quickly jumped into the area and raced around, blasting random Goombas with lightning.

I drew back my own sword. "Kamaitachi!" I shouted, and slashed, ripping through Goombas and even the ground with the wind blast.

"Take this!" Mario shouted, and he pulled out a red star with eyes. "Luigi, on your mark…" He tossed the Star high into the air, where it suddenly began to glow green. "Now!"

"Right!" Luigi shouted. He tossed up many tiny golden stars and then began smashing them with his hammer towards the red star, but the red star was flying around, and Luigi was trying hard to make all his stars hit. Once they hit, they began to follow the red star around.

But then the star emitted a red glow, and Mario started smashing his own golden stars at the red star. Then it transitioned to green, and Luigi began smashing stars at it. They repeated the process until the star had about 100 golden stars trailing it. Then it flew up high into the air…

"Here we go!" Mario shouted. "Falling Star!"

And the Red Star shot down from the sky, smashing into the ground and creating a massive explosion. But its final damage was not done; the golden stars were still trailing it. They followed the Falling Star and rained down upon the Goombas, crushing them.

"That was so easy," Mario said. "Now…are there any other troops remaining?"

"I'm not sure," Yoshi said. "Let's go back and check. This sure is hard work, eh?"

"Well, it's necessary to protect everyone," Terra said. "And that's what we have to do."

"Oh, right…" Yoshi said. "Let's head back to that flower field where my friends were. Then we'll get you the Star."

* * *

_And so…(WTF? Why do I use "And so…" so much?)_

"Oh…I see…" Yoshi smiled and turned back to us. "All of the Koopa Troop is gone now!" he declared.

"That's great!" Mario said. "Now Yoshi's Island is safe!" The Yoshis were very happy as well.

"Exactly!" Yoshi said. "And as a token of thanks, we'll provide you with two things…"

"Which are?" I asked.

"One: There are many Yoshis out in the universe," Yoshi said. "We will all help you collect Stars in your quest. And two…here's the Star we promised you! Thank you for protecting our home!"

"Anytime, Yoshi," Luigi said. "This is great! We not only got a Star, but also a new ally!"

"It seems we'll be able to save the universe more easily now," I said. "Now, guys, let's go back ho-"

"_I'll _take that Star, thank you!" we suddenly heard behind us. I hesitated. But it really would have been better if I hadn't.

There was a flash of black, and someone dove past me. When I turned to look at where he was going, I saw the Star was gone! "Hey!" I shouted.

The guy just grinned. "Perfect getaway!" he said, and he prepared to jump away.

"_Teiryuu_ (stop)!" Terra shouted, and she thrust her hand out. Massive earth spikes rose from the ground, barring the guy's way. Then we saw who he really was…the Mario clone!

"All this time," Mario said, now unable to keep anger from his voice. "You've been stealing Stars, throwing enemies at us, and most of all, stealing my perfect face! WHO THE FREAKIN' HECK ARE YOU?"

The clone just laughed. "Who am I?" he said. "Perhaps this should tell you…" He put his hand over the S on his hat. Shadow suddenly flashed from it, and then peeled away to reveal a red M.

Luigi stared. "No…"

"_Nani?"_ Terra shouted. "It can't be!"

"Impossible…" Mario whispered.

"Yes," the clone said, grinning evilly. "My name…or rather my _true_ name…is Mario."

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Mario shouted. "HOW CAN THIS BE?"

"I was afraid of it…" Luigi said. "He truly is the one I made." But then an emerald was at his throat.

"What are you talking about?" Terra shouted, seeming shocked and angry. "Who the heck is he?"

I myself was shocked. _What_ was the connection between this clone and Luigi? "Tell us, Luigi," I said.

Luigi swallowed hard. "Ok…you guys really need to know this now, I guess…he's a clone of Mario."

"A clone of me?" Mario shouted. "Not just some imposter? And who made him?"

"I did," Luigi said. "I thought that by creating him, we could fight off Bowser more easily…"

"But what happened?" Axel asked, obviously the calmest of us all.

"Something went horribly wrong when I created him," Luigi said. "He got that appearance that he has now, as well as shadow manipulation and a greedy and malevolent personality. And as soon as I created him-"

"I decided it was time for me to get independence," the clone said. "And I got it." He laughed. "I'm much more powerful than Mario! And not even that weird girl can stop me! Because…" He glowered at us. "I'm a Shining Star!"

Everyone stared. "You?" Terra shouted. "A Shining Star? But…Shining Stars…they're supposed to…protect…"

"So?" the clone said. "Being a Shining Star only affects their ability. It doesn't affect their decisions! And I, the Shining Star of Shadow, have joined the Koopa Troop to get a Plasma Screen TV!"

*insert record scratch here*

"Dude," I said. "You're destroying the universe…or helping to…FOR A TV?"

"What's so weird about it?" the clone said. "This is the path for me…Shade, the Shining Star of Shadow!"

Terra was silent. But we could see tears floating on the wind from her eyes. "I can't believe…" she whispered. "…that a Shining Star…would fight to destroy. And you…you can't be a Shining Star in heart. So…" She clenched her fist, and looked up at him. "I can't let you fight anymore! As a Shining Star, in mind, body and heart, I will have to stop you from using your gift to hurt people instead of help them!"

"Sheesh," Shade said. "You don't know when to quit, do you?" He leveled his fist. "You'll die here for opposing me!"

* * *

**Boss: Shade**

"I've gotten stronger since our fight in the Super Surf Galaxy," Terra said. "Show me what you have, Shadow!"

"Whatever, Earth," Shade said. His black reiastu flared out. "But in the end, you'll get defeated."

"Wrong!" Terra shouted. "My power comes from the heart! I _can_ defeat you! And I _will_! This is why I'm a Shining Star!" She blasted her emerald reiatsu out. "Power comes with responsibility! You'll never understand…that's why I'll defeat you! Here! And! Now!" She jumped at Shade, drawing her fist back.

Shade grinned and bolted to the right, Terra missing him by inches. But Terra wasn't done with him; she smashed her foot into the ground and whirled, kicking with her other foot. However, Shade caught her foot. "You still aren't that strong physically, you know," he said. Then shadow coursed through his hands, and he thrust them out, sending Terra flying backwards.

Terra got back up. "What does it matter?" she said. "It's not about strength physically. You have to do have heart in your duty, and then you'll really be strong. Don't make me repeat myself."

"Don't make _me_ repeat myself," Shade said. He held out his hand, and shadow swirled to it. "Even if you have a strong heart or whatever you say, you can't back it up without physical strength. Victory…is all that matters!" He punctuated his sentence by punching and launching a bolt of shadow at Terra.

And then Terra was no longer there. She blasted herself into the air with the ground underneath her. Then she sailed down towards Shade, bringing her hand back. Emeralds crystallized around her. Then she punched, and the emeralds shot downwards like needles.

But Shade dodged through them easily. "Too easy," he said. "Does this even qualify as a fight?" He suddenly slammed his foot on Terra's shadow. Terra cried out, and her body contorted as if she'd been hit in the stomach. She fell towards the ground, and coughed up blood.

"You see?" Shade said. "That's the difference between you and I." He raised his foot and stomped on her shadow again. Terra screamed and took another hit to the stomach. "Your shadow is under my control as well."

"Cough…" Terra staggered up. "You can't make me give in to despair. I've made a promise to not do that."

"Don't you ever learn?" Shade said. He brought his foot down towards Terra's shadow…suddenly it was gone!"

"What?" Shade shouted. He brought it down hard. But it only landed on a massive shadow…and then a massive rock collapsed on him. "GAK!"

Terra landed on the ground. "You aren't invincible, you know."

"Neither are you. Watch this, Earth girl," Shade said. "This is a show of how power wins over heart. Falcon…" Shadow swirled around his hand in massive amounts.

"I know that move," Terra said. "And I've used it myself. Though they're different elements…the energy patterns are the same!" She drew back her own fist, and emerald energy swirled around it.

"…PUNCH!" Shade shouted, punching. Terra punched herself.

**BOOOM!**

Black shadow exploded in all directions, followed by emeralds quickly crystallizing in all directions around the clash zone. The entire island shook with an earthquake. But when it was over, Terra and Shade weren't there.

"Eh?" Mario shouted. "Where'd they go?" Suddenly, an emerald fell and landed on his head. "The heck?"

"They're up there!" Axel shouted, as emerald and black clashed again in the sky. "And they sure aren't giving up at any time. It's obvious they didn't get out of that unscarred...but we can't jump in."

"What?" Mario shouted. "Why can't we help? Terra's our friend and-"

"That's _why_ we can't jump in," I said. "Terra's fighting for us…for the universe and the well being of the ones who inhabit it…and for the ones that are like her. The Shining Stars. She believes Shade has destroyed the name of the Shining Stars and is now fighting to restore their honor."

"So…it's like she's fighting for her own honor," Luigi said. "But are there really ones like her?"

"Yes," I said. "There are 10 forces of nature, and 10 Shining Stars to fight for them. Earth, Light, Ice, Wind, Thunder, Shadow, Metal, Plantlife, Water, and Fire…and as wielder of earth, Terra is only one of them. There are 9 others, Shade included. She's fighting for the other 8…and to wake up the Shadow."

"Who knew Terra could be like this?" Luigi said. "She's never been _this_ angry before…"

"Give it up," Shade said, his fist flying only to be blocked by Terra's foot. "You can't win, there's no way."

"There is a way!" Terra shouted, emeralds crystallizing around her arm. "And I'll do what I can to make sure you never hurt another person again! Even if it means my life will end…"

"What's the point of it all?" Shade said, blasting shadow and shattering the emeralds before Terra could get close. "You're willing to die to stop me? That's absurd. You can think about it as you fall!" He blasted shadow again, cutting through Terra's shoulder.

"I enjoy life," Terra said, wincing from the blow to her shoulder. "But the lives of many are more important to me than my own. So that's why I do it!" She created an emerald and slashed with it, but Shade shattered it.

"Then you're an idiot," Shade said. "Why give up your own life? Just live on in peace. You'll just make yourself go to the graveyard if you keep it up! And why does the rest of the universe matter to you?"

"No one deserves to be lonely," Terra said. "And people will be if you are allowed to succeed. But if by doing the things I do, I can protect everybody…if by doing it, that wish can come true…than I'll do it!" She drew back her foot, and emerald swirled around it. "I can't lose to you, Shade!"

"Wha-?" Shade said. "This is impossible!"

Terra just responded by kicking as hard as she could.

**BLAM!**

Shade fell to the ground, having been subdued by Terra's seismic wave. Terra landed on the ground, but she was far from alright. There were many cuts on her body, most significantly her shoulder. Shade wasn't looking much better. Terra walked over to where he was, and took the Star from him.

"I will never," Terra said. "Recognize one who fights for what you do as a Shining Star." She walked back to us.

"Great, Terra…" Mario's voice trailed off. Terra wasn't looking at him. She was just kept her eyes down, not making eye contact with us.

"Yeah," she said. "Now let's go. Thanks for everything, Yoshi."

"Uh…anytime!" Yoshi said. "But I'm afraid I can't accompany you, I still have to defend the island. Who knows if the Koopa Troop will come back? Actually, they _will_, if this guy is really on their side."

"Come on, guys," Axel said. "We gotta get back." But both he and I could tell everyone was emotionally shattered.

**WE GOT A STAR!**

* * *

Lubba was surprised. "So you brought back an alien egg?"

"What?" Luigi said. "What alien egg?" Lubba pointed to the nose of Starship Mario. There was a small nest, and a Yoshi egg was in it! "Oh," Luigi said. "That's great."

"Huh?" Lubba said. "What's with you guys? You seem different…"

"Yeah, because LUIGI screwed it all up for us," Mario said angrily. "He made Bowser gain an ally!"

"W_hat?_" Lubba shouted. "Luigi, explain!"

Luigi sighed. "I'm outta here," he said, and he walked away.

"GET BACK HERE YOU FOOL!" Mario shouted, and he ran after Luigi. "After all you did…you can just betray us like that? Why'd you have to make a new enemy for us?"

"I didn't do it intentionally!" Luigi shouted. "It was an accident! If you're going to be like that, I refuse to help you with this! Bug off, Mario!"

"Screw you, Luigi!" Mario shouted, and they stalked off in opposite directions.

"I need to take some time to clear my head…is that okay, Axel?" Terra said.

"What? Uh…sure…"Axel said. Terra walked off. Axel turned to face me. "Aeron," he said. "I think this is a major setback in our journey."

"I agree with you on that," I said. "But now we know who the Mario Clone really is."

"At what cost?" Axel said. "Mario's now really angry, and Luigi's depressed about what he's done. Even Terra, who usually has the most motivation, is now shocked by Shade's actions. We're splitting apart."

"That means we won't be able to save Hanna that easily," I said. "And then…"

"We can't give in to despair," Axel said. "Aeron, you and I are probably the only ones left with resolve. The others have all fallen away from each other in heart. They may have given up, but _we_ can't. You know that the Oversoul will never let us do it. So…shall we, just you and I head back to Yoshi's Island and collect more Stars?"

"That's probably the best decision," I said. "And it'll give the others time to emotionally recover. Come on, Axel. We'll go on, no matter what."

"It's what we have to do."


	13. Sky and Night

**It was just Aeron and myself now. After Shade's appearance, we were the only ones who had any resolve left. So we felt it was up to us to get Stars.**

**Sky and Night: the only ones left standing. It was our duty. And we had to do it.**

* * *

**Traveler's Log entry 11: Sky and Night**

**Stars: 10**

**Axel**

* * *

"Aeron, do you need to rest or anything?" I asked, knowing what the answer probably was.

Aeron shook his head. "I didn't use too much of my energy. Terra was the one who expended the most. Anyway, Terra's in the living quarters at this time. I think she should be alone for a bit."

"I see," I said calmly. I looked down at the compass rose. "I hope she's alright…after all, knowing there's someone like you out there who fights for _evil_ is something that really injures inside."

"I know," Aeron said. "But please don't remind me of _him_ any more than you have to."

"Aeron," I said, remembering the twisted mirror of Aeron that was inside of him. "He's _you._ He's a part of you. He's your dark side, like the Yin and Yang. So it's totally different. Don't think of Anei-Aeron the way I think of Shade." I sighed. "And anyway…everywhere else that one could rest is taken."

Aeron nodded. "Exactly." Mario was sitting inside the ear of Starship Mario, not talking to anyone. Luigi was sitting on a stump on the back of the head, also not talking. "Alright, Axel, are you ready?"

"More ready than you'll ever be," I said, grinning. We walked up to the wheel. "I'll let you do it," I said. "How long has it been, Aeron…how long since it was just the two of us trying to save everyone?"

"We've gained allies and friends as our lives went on," Aeron said, standing in front of the wheel. "It's been almost millennia since we, or rather the two of us, were alone without support."

"What the heck are you two doing?" Lubba asked as Aeron tapped the holomap and the Launch Star popped up. "Wouldn't it be a better idea to bring the others with you?"

"That's the thing," Aeron said. "The others…Luigi's depressed because he believes everything-by which I mean, Shade-is his fault. Mario is angry at Luigi because he thinks Luigi's the cause of this. Even Terra, the one who's most driven, is now conflicted inside after meeting Shade. We're going to let those three emotionally recover, and we will collect Stars for them in that time. It may be reckless, but Axel and I really believe that's the best choice for now."

"Hm…" Lubba sighed. "There's something about you two that you're hiding, isn't there?"

"Eh?" Aeron said. "You see a lot more than I thought, you know that?"

"There's a side of you two that none of them have seen," Lubba said. "You two have definitely seen this stuff before. And you definitely don't enjoy it."

"We don't," I said. "But I can't stand to see them suffer, and we're going to rectify that."

"This is probably the stupidest thing I've ever said, but…good luck," Lubba said.

"Thanks, Lubba," I said. Then we flew back towards Yoshi's Island.

* * *

When we landed, we landed right next to Yoshi.

"WAGH!" Yoshi shouted. "Oh, it's you two again. Hi! Wait…where are Mario, Luigi, and…what's her name…Terra?" He looked around, confused. "Weren't you five a team?"

"Well, yeah," I said. "But after Shade showed up, we kind of…split emotionally. So Aeron and I are the only ones with resolve to keep going. Yoshi, have the Koopa Troop been doing anything?"

"Well, actually, now that you mention it," Yoshi said. "After Terra beat down Shade, the Koopa Troop said something about it being an offense to Bowser and how they were going to retaliate. And now, they've deployed Lakitus to the island. We may need your help again, and I think they have a Star with them. So it'll add insult to injury if we get the Star from them _and_ drive them off the island."

"Sounds like a plan," Aeron said. "Let's go, Yoshi."

* * *

But we hadn't gone for very long when suddenly a turtle in a floating cloud with glasses came. Actually…

"It's a Koopa!" I shouted. "But what are they doing sitting in clouds and wearing glasses?"

"That's a Koopa, true," Yoshi said. "But not just any Koopa. That's a Lakitu! They're special Koopas who sit in clouds, and the glasses are to increase their precision when they-"

Suddenly, the Lakitu adjusted his glasses, and then reached into the cloud. Then he threw out a spiky red ball!

"-throw Spinies!" Yoshi shouted. "Scatter!" We all jumped out of the way as the spiked ball smashed through the area that we had been in earlier. Then the spiked ball uncurled, and a head and legs popped out. It was actually a kind of Turtle! But not just any turtle…this one was running towards us. Fast!

"Watch out!" Yoshi shouted, and we jumped away before the Spiny could smash us to pieces. But then the Lakitu threw another Spiny at us!

Yoshi jumped into the air, and his tongue whipped out. "Gotcha!" he shouted, lassoing the Spiny out of midair with his tongue. Then he looked at the Lakitu and spit the Spiny back out! It smashed into the Lakitu, knocking him out of the cloud. And Yoshi now could attack him at will!

Yoshi ran over and shook his head, smashing the Lakitu away. "This isn't the only one on the island!" he called, beginning to run off. "Come on, you two! Or are you that slow?"

"Just you watch," I replied, and then I ran as fast as I could. In less than a millisecond, I was far away from them and cutting a Lakitu in half with my Zanpaku-to. It didn't even have time to _blink_ before I cut it down, so I guess you could call it a bit of a cheap shot.

"Way too easy," I muttered. Then I prepared to take on some more Lakitus-about 13 or 14.

One threw a Spiny at me, but I dodged it and leaped forward. "_Ketatamashi Getsu_!" I shouted, blasting a slender beam that instantly pierced through the Lakitu and defeated it immediately. Then I whirled and slashed another one. My foot whipped up afterwards, smashing into the face of another Lakitu and breaking his glasses and knocking him out of the cloud. That _had_ to hurt.

Suddenly, another Lakitu attacked me by throwing two Spinies. I sighed. "This is gonna be a pain," I muttered, and I slashed with both gauntlets, sending the Spinies flying back towards the Lakitu. But then another Spiny zoomed towards me from behind. So that was their trick-to leave me open from behind!

Oh, yes, and might I add, it didn't work.

"_Bakudo no Kyuu: Gekki_ (Way of Binding 9: Strike)!" I shouted. The Spiny was suddenly surrounded with red light, paralyzing it and stopping it in midair. The Lakitu threw another one, but I now knew what was going on.

"Not this time," I said. I began to spin around, and around, and around, the silver energy of my blades trailing them. Silver circles seemed to form around me as I continued. "Wangetsu Gufuu (Crescent Tornado)!" I shouted, preparing one of my most devastating and powerful attacks that I had in Shikai.

My feet smashed onto the ground, and I stopped spinning, but my arms whirled and I unleased a massive cyclone of silver that whirled into the Lakitus, whipping their Spinies back at them and smashing them to pieces. "Too easy again," I muttered.

But after that, I had to sit around for about an hour before Yoshi finally came. And Aeron followed, apparently being lazy. "Well?" I asked. "That too fast for you?"

"Huff…Huff…maybe…" Yoshi said after collapsing on the grass.

"Whatever," Aeron said. "I just didn't feel like trying to keep up." Strange, we seemed to act like we normally acted.

"Huff…Well, there should…huff…be more this way…huff…" Yoshi panted, getting up. "Huff…come on. We've got…huff…an island…huff…to save." And he led us away.

* * *

"Oh great, more Lakitus," Aeron said. "I mean, yay, more stuff we can blow up."

"You like blowing things up?" Yoshi asked.

"That's my idiotic brainless brother for you," I said. "He can only think clearly about blowing things up."

"Riiiight," Yoshi said.

"HEY!" Aeron shouted. "I'M NOT BRAINLESS!"

"YOU IDIOT!" Yoshi shouted. "DON'T SHOUT! YOU ALREADY GOT THE LAKITUS' ATTENTION!"

"YOU'RE SHOUTING TOO, YOU KNOW!" Aeron shouted back. "SO FOLLOW YOUR OWN ADVICE!"

"WHAT?"

"WHAT!"

"Sigh…" I took one step back, allowing a Spiny to crash into them.

**BOOM!**

"WAAAAGHH!" Aeron and Yoshi shouted.

"Good, that should break them up," I said. Then I turned to face the Lakitu.

Suddenly the Lakitu looked in another direction altogether and tossed a Spiny at some bush.

**BOOM!**

"WAAAAAAH~" Ben went flying off somewhere. "CAN'T I MAKE A CAMEO AND NOT GET KICKED OUT?"

"No," I said. "Later." Then I jumped at the Lakitu and slashed him. "People. Put something in that excites me," I said. "Like Lakitus that launch thunder from their clouds or something like that."

Another Lakitu suddenly flew at me and tried to get me with…a fishing rod? Oh, but there was a bomb hanging from it.

"The heck?" I shouted, jumping out of the way. "You guys get weirder and weirder."

The bomb flew off the hook.

"Oh, s-"

**BOOOOOOOOOOM!**

I was totally blackened. "Cough…okay, now that was a new one."

…

"YOU DIE!" I shouted, jumping at the Lakitu. I raised my sword. "This isn't my move, but…"

Silver energy outlined with blue began to swirl around my sword.

"_Getsuga Tensho_ (Moon-Fang Heaven's Piercer)!" I shouted, slashing. The silver energy blasted out of my blade and smashed through the Lakitus, um, utterly destroying them.

(That was the vaguest description I felt like giving.)

Yoshi and Aeron were still arguing, and…no wait, at that point they started to try to kill each other.

"WHAT ARE YOU FOOLS DOING?" I shouted, slashing and sending both of them flying. "ARE YOU GUYS THAT DENSE SO THAT I DO ALL THE WORK AND YOU JUST FREAK OUT AT EACH OTHER?"

"ATTACK THE SENSE BELIEVER!" Aeron and Yoshi shouted with murderous intent.

"YOU'RE THE SENSE BELIEVERS!" I shouted, also with murderous intent.

And so, we all tried to kill each other. Great, just great.

_

* * *

_

Five hours later…

"THAT'S IT!" Aeron shouted. "_IKAZUCHI CHIKARA_! D:"

Aeron launched the massive lightning bolt. Yoshi and I dodged, and the lightning bolt crashed into some unlucky Lakitu, smashing it over the horizon.

"Whoa…when did _he_ get there?" I asked.

"I don't know," Yoshi said. "What I _do_ know is that he won't be coming back. Nice work, Aeron."

"Thanks," Aeron said. "Now come on, let's go."

"Hey, have you noticed that this island hasn't been getting described very well?" Yoshi asked.

"I think the author has been being lazy again," Aeron said.

**Hey! Don't call me lazy, okay? I constantly get Writer's Block, and I'm not good at describing stuff! So cut me some slack, people! Or do you want me to just humiliate you more in this story?**

"Whatever," I said. "Just shut up, you."

**HEY! You shouldn't tell the author to shut up! And the author is **_**me**_**, so you shouldn't tell **_**me**_** to shut up! And-oh! OH! MY POT ROAST! SORRY, I GOTTA GO! YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN NOW! BYE!**

"Sheesh," Yoshi said. "I'm glad he's gone now. He's a dork. Now we can do whatever we want!"

"Look, let's keep moving," Aeron said.

We began to follow a stream for no apparent reason. But Yoshi apparently thought that there were some Lakitus upstream.

"Should we even trust your judgement?" I asked. "You could end up finding some other Yoshi, you know."

"Well, I don't know," Yoshi said. "But the Lakitus have been near the stream at some point. There are small pieces of cloud floating in the stream, if you haven't noticed."

"Pieces of cloud?" Aeron said. "That's strange. Clouds are water. Why are they in streams?"

"Oh, Lakitus' clouds are different," Yoshi said. "They're not made of the same stuff. They've got other stuff in them…like…I have no idea. ANYWAY, bottom line is, they're different. Now let's keep mo-"

"Guys, there's a Koopa shell floating in there," I said.

"Huh?" Aeron shouted, turning. There was a blue Koopa shell riding on the water towards us.

"Not sure_ what_ it's doing there…but this shouldn't be too hard," I said, beginning to charge my powerful piercing attack. "I'll defeat it quickly before it can reach us. _Ketatamashi_-"

Suddenly, the Koopa came out of its shell to reveal it had a blue hat…and a boomerang! Well, actually two. "WHAT?" Aeron shouted. "HOW DID THEY CONCEAL _THAT_?"

But it was too late to question. Before I could do anything, the Koopa threw both its boomerangs and they smashed into me, sending me flying backwards. "OW!" I shouted. "Hey, that was a cheap shot!"

"It's a Boomerang Bro!" Yoshi said. "They're elite Koopas that wield boomerangs and use them as weapons!"

"Well, they're in for a surprise," I said. "Everyone knows that boomerangs are for dorks. What people _really _need for weapons are swords!" I jumped at the Boomerang Bro, jumped over the boomerang coming back, and slashed with my Shikai. But then, suddenly, a boomerang smashed into me from the _side_!

"Augh-what?" I shouted. "When did he throw one of them to the side?"

"It's not one he threw," Yoshi said, tense. "Because everyone knows with brothers, there are two people."

"Ah, right," I said. "I'd forgotten about that. Now…LET'S BLOW THESE IDIOTS UP!"

*insert beatdown sounds here*

Yoshi lassoed a boomerang out of the air and spit it back out at a Boomerang Bro, sending him flying yay. Wait, yay? The heck? What's that about? Is this more idiots sabotaging my log? Whatever.

Aeron pointed his finger at the remaining Boomerang Bro. Green energy began to pull in around his finger….

"_Shinsei Taiho_!" Aeron shouted, blasting a massive beam. The Boomerang Bro threw his boomerangs into the beam to try and split it…nice work, dummy. They utterly DISINTEGRATED (not really) the boomerangs, and smashed the Boomerang Bro far away. To a distant star. =D

"Why do these idiots make us have to work hard to defeat them?" Aeron wondered.

"Because they're jerks," I said.

"Whatever," Yoshi said. "So…we go into the forest now. Come on, guys."

_

* * *

_

Shortly…

"AUGH!" Yoshi shouted, running out of the other side of the forest getting chased by bats.

"_Ikazuchi Chikara_!"

**ZOW!**

The bats fell to the ground, twitching from the shock. "What the heck were they doing here?" I wondered.

"Probably to add to the dark forest stereotype," Aeron said.

"Aeron, is there even such thing as a dark forest stereotype?" I asked.

"…dang it! (explicative removed) the author! Why did he have to give me a limited vocabulary and write the script to make me act idiotically?" Aeron shouted.

"You realize you already act idiotically?" I said.

"_SHINSEI TAIHO_!"

"CRAAAAAAAAP!"

**ZOW!**

"Um…you guys…" Yoshi said, looking up. "I think we have a major problem…known as…Lakithunders!"

"Huh?" Aeron wondered. "Lakithunders? What the heck are those?"

We looked up to see a bunch of blue shelled Lakitus with dark clouds…five, to be exact. And for some reason, they had silver Stars on their fishing rods.

"The heck?" I wondered. "Why do they have silver Stars? What, do you have to collect all five of the silver Stars to get a Star?"

"YOU NAILED IT DEAD ON!" Yoshi shouted, gaping.

"Huh," I said. "I must be awesome. So…LET'S BEAT UP THESE IDIOTS!"

Before anyone could move, Aeron and I had slashed at two of the Lakithunders. What could possibly go wrong?

Everything, that's what.

The Lakithunders suddenly launched lightning bolts at Aeron and I, exploding the ground underneath our feet and forcing us to zoom away. But more lightning bolts struck down, and soon the ground was totally totaled.

"Crap!" Yoshi shouted, jumping away from a lightning bolt. "How do we defeat them?"

"This is how," Aeron said, jumping towards a Lakithunder. The Lakithunder blasted a lightning bolt and hit Aeron dead on!

"No! Aeron!" Yoshi shouted.

"Yoshi," I said. "You underestimate him. Just watch and learn."

"Huh?" Yoshi asked. Then we saw a green flash, and Aeron came out completely unscathed!

"Nice try, fools," Aeron said. "But I'm immune to lightning. Your attacks…do not hurt me."

The Lakithunder responded by throwing Spinies like crazy. But Aeron drew back his blade, and green gales whipped around it. Then he surged throught the Spiny storm, dodging the Spinies.

"How can he dodge all of them like that?" Yoshi asked.

"That's Aeron for you," I said. "He's an idiot…but he's got a lot of stuff working for him."

Aeron raised his sword. "_Sendo deyou…Reppuzan _(Death move: Cutting Gale)!"

Aeron swung the sword and smashed through the spinies, ripping through the Lakithunder with his sword glowing bright green. Once he was on the other side, the green energy dispelled.

The Lakithunder exploded into Star Bits, and Aeron held up the Silver Star. "That's one," he said.

More Spinies and lightning bolts flew from the other four Lakithunders. And they were trying to keep their distance.

"Yoshi, Aeron, cover me," I said. "At this rate, I won't be able to get a clear shot of them."

"Right," Aeron and Yoshi said. Aeron spun his sword and smashed lightning bolts out of the way, and Yoshi lassoed Spinies and spit them at the Lakithunders. They dodged easily, but then two of them collided. Yoshi seized his chance and spit a Spiny, smashing both of them. Then he quickly grabbed two Silver Stars.

"I know what you want to do, Axel," Aeron said. "Then let's do it. _Hama Hyoketsu_!"

Aeron thrust out his hand and blasted out icy energy, freezing the Lakithunders solid in a glacier.

"Whoa!" Yoshi shouted. "That has massive power! But…Axel, what's with your hand?"

"Nothing's wrong," I said. "All that matters is that…" I leveled my index and middle fingers at the glacier, sliver energy flying around them. "They are ready to pierce. _Ketatamashi Getsu_!"

I blasted two beams, and they blasted straight through the glacier, burning two tiny holes in them. Then the ENTIRE glacier shattered. The Lakithunders were now merely Star Bits that fell around us, and the Silver Stars were free.

"Yes!" Aeron said. "Now…" All five of the Silver Stars formed a circle and spiraled towards each other, whirling into a sphere of energy…and what came out was a Star!

"We did it!" Yoshi shouted. "And now Yoshi's Island is safe once more!"

"Thanks, Yoshi," I said. "So, can we take this Star?"

"Sure," Yoshi said. "That's what I can do to repay you for saving the Island again."

"I'm sure Mario, Luigi and Terra will be all glad we got this Star!" Aeron said.

**WE GOT A STAR!**

**(And we'd be getting something else soon…)**

* * *

Aeron and I flew back towards Starship Mario, but there was something wrong…

"Hey, Aeron…" I said. "Why the heck is it taking us so long to get back to Starship Mario?"

"You know," Aeron said. "I think Starship Mario _moved_."

"Why would it do that?" I wondered. "THAT MEANS THEY LEFT US BEHIND!"

* * *

We FINALLY landed on Starship Mario. It was next to another galaxy entirely.

"Lubba, what's going on?" I asked. "Why did you leave us behind?"

"It wasn't my idea," Lubba said. "Terra said something, and then she went up and drove the Starship to the-"

"Building way too many LEGOs Galaxy?" I asked, looking at the holomap and watching LEGOs randomly assemble and disassemble themselves. "Why would she come here? Did she want to play with LEGOs?"

"I don't know," we heard. We turned to see Mario. "All I know is, she went alone."

"WHAT?" Aeron shouted. "WHY DIDN'T YOU AND LUIGI GO?"

"I offered to, but then so did _he_," Mario said, leaving his brother's name out. "Then Terra got angry and said that both of us had to come, or not come at all. So we stayed behind."

"This is what happens when people stop trusting each other," Aeron sighed. "Come on, guys. BOTH of you. Knowing Terra, she's probably done something reckless and got herself hurt, and we-"

Aeron and I suddenly stopped short.

"Huh?" Luigi asked.

"Terra's reiatsu…" Aeron said. "It's faded!"

"It's still there, but it's weak," I said. "She most certainly got hurt…that means we have to-"

**THOOM!**

Suddenly, a massive reiatsu smashed down upon us. It wasn't as strong as Aeron or myself, yet it was incredibly strong. From the galaxy in front of us, a white column of light blasted into space.

"What's this?" I shouted. "This is undoubtedly an unfamiliar reiatsu…but it resonates with Terra's!"

"It's light," Aeron said. "That can only mean…what did Terra say, Lubba?"

"I guess I should tell you," Lubba said. "Terra thinks that in that galaxy is…another Shining Star."


	14. The Shining Stars, Verse 2

**Dark times had fallen over us. Mario and Luigi no longer trusted each other, and now Aeron and I thought we were the only ones who could keep going.**

**We were so wrong. We should have known Terra wouldn't fall to despair.**

**Terra traveled by herself to another galaxy, and where darkness had fallen over us before…she found the one to light things up and show where our destiny lay. The Shining Star of Light.**

* * *

_Terra looked out of the window of the living quarters at the infinite blue sky. She couldn't believe what happened on Yoshi's Island._

Is it really possible? Who are the Shining Stars really, if one fights to destroy the universe?

Who am _I_ really?

_Terra sighed. The answers were never obvious. She got up and walked out of bed, getting on deck._

_Suddenly, her eyes widened. What was that pounding reiatsu? She released her own, and opened her spiritual eyes._

_How strange…it resembled her own so much. Different energy types…but the pattern was the same. It was as if their reiatsus were songs, playing at the same time and creating a perfect harmony._

I need answers. There's only one thing to do.

_Terra raced onto the deck. She grabbed the wheel and the Starship's engines burst to life._

"_Terra, what are you doing?" Lubba asked. "Axel and Aeron are still on Yoshi's Island!"_

"_I'm sorry, Lubba," Terra said. "But I think, at that galaxy over there…it's _another _Shining Star!"_

"_Another Shining Star?" Mario asked. "You sure it isn't Luigi's freak creation?"_

"_I'm sure," Terra said. "It's Light reiatsu! And Shade is of Shadow, so…I _have_ to find the one of Light!"_

"_I'll help!" Luigi said as Terra brought the Starship up to the Over Building Galaxy._

"_No, I will!" Mario said. "You can't be trusted anymore!"_

_The two began a massive argument. Terra watched them, growing more and more upset. _When they split, the Mario Bros. are useless. But I need both of them…who knows when Axel and Aeron will come back?

_Finally, Terra couldn't take it anymore. "Both of you, stop it _now_!"_

_The Mario Bros. stopped and stared at her, shocked. She hadn't yelled at them before like that._

"_If you two want to come with me, either you both come or don't come at all!" Terra shouted angrily. "I don't want to hear you two fight anymore!"_

"_Well if he's going, include me out!" Mario said._

"_Same here!" Luigi said, stalking away._

_Terra sighed. "So that's how it is. We turned away from our unity…_and_ our duty and destiny at the same time. But the other Shining Star…I think he can undo that! Lubba, I have to go alone. Sorry."_

"_I see," Lubba said. "I'll tell Aeron and Axel when they come back. Good luck!"_

"_Thanks, Lubba."_

* * *

_Terra was surprised when she landed. "_Nani _(what)?"_

_All around her, massive bricks of assorted colors were pushed together to form massive blocks which surrounded smooth gray pathways. All this rested on the clounds._

"_They're LEGOs…" Terra said. "_Sugoi…_!" She raced down the gray path._

_Terra raced down alleys. Many times, trucks raced past her, but the people inside hardly seemed to notice her._

"_They look like Minifigures…" Terra said. "This is amazing-_nani_?"_

_A LEGO Minifigure in a black robe jumped at her, swinging a black sword. Terra dodged it. "Who are you?" she demanded. The Minifigure responded by slashing at her. Terra jumped away and created an emerald blade, and they began fighting with the blades._

_But Terra knew very little about sword combat, and the Minifigure was very skilled. Terra found herself being forced back. "No…I can't lose!" she shouted, taking another swipe._

_The Minifigure sidestepped, and then his sword left his hand. Terra watched helplessly as it came towards her._

_The sword landed in her side. Terra coughed blood, staggered, and then fell off the edge of the path._

_Terra watched the platform fall away from her…and the infinite sky with it Her vision began to blacken._

What is a Shining Star really?

* * *

**The Shining Stars, Verse 2**

**Stars: 11**

**Ray**

* * *

Hey, everyone! It's me, Ray! I'm the new member of the Mario Team! Pleased to meet you!

And to add to that, I'm the Shining Star of Light! I'm not sure if I can do the things I have to, but knowing what's at stake, I'll do what I can! So you can count on me to save this universe!

Anyway, this is how I met the Mario Team. It all started when I met Terra.

I was visiting the Over Building Galaxy at the time. It's a really fun place…and imagination rules the galaxy. You can make whatever you want. Planes, buildings, animals-heck, the list is endless!

BUT ANYWAY. I was building something at the time.

"Not enough bricks…" I muttered. "Crap!" I ran over to where a crate was, and smashed it open with my fist. The crate exploded into several bricks. I took them and tossed them at what I was making.

"Finished!" I shouted. "Now my racecar is ready to go!"

I climbed into its cockpit and closed it. "Time for some awesome driving!"

The engine revved, and I blasted off across the pathways. It was incredibly fast…well, actually, way TOO fast.

"HOLY S-" I shouted, seeing a wall in front of me. Then suddenly, the steering wheel broke off. So I was going way too fast and had no way to steer away. Just perfect. "CRAP, WHERE ARE THE BRAKES?"

**CRASH!**

There was no way to stop in time. I smashed headlong into the wall, and although I jumped out in time, the car exploded against the wall, smashing into all its pieces.

"No!" I shouted. "My car! After all my hard work! Oh well, I'll just rebuild it."

I began to reassemble the pieces, when I saw something falling from the sky. "Wait…what's that?"

It was a girl with brown hair and green clothes, and she was falling headfirst towards the ground. Then I noticed: there was a Black Sword in her side. Blood streamed from the wound. What happened?

I ran over and caught her before she smashed headlong into the pavement. "Hey!" I shouted. "What happened to you? It's not safe to skydive headfirst with a wound like that!"

The girl didn't respond. She was unconscious. And…I could tell she was losing a lot of blood from the wound. So I decided I had to something. I pulled the sword out of her side, and decided to get bricks.

I faced the wall I crashed into, and began to release my white energy. Then I drew my fist back. "Falcon PUNCH!"

Light exploded from my fist, smashing the wall to pieces. Enough bricks for me to start building a device to heal the girl. I set to work immediately, and finished quickly. "There we go!" I said.

I put the girl inside, and a green light shone from the sides of the device. The girl was surrounded with green light, and then her wound began to heal. I looked at the sword.

"It's a Black Sword…" I murmured. "It's incredibly hard and sharp, and only the most moronic or ruthless people use it often. So this girl must have been attacked, or maybe-"

I didn't have time to contemplate anymore. Without warning, bullets whizzed by my head from behind, only one centimeter away from a headshot…and close enough to take off a hair. Now _I_ was a target!

I whirled to see a bunch of guys with pistols. They reloaded, and began shooting again.

I quickly dodged the bullets, and then threw a brick at one of them. It knocked him out immediately. Then I grabbed the Black Sword and smashed a bullet aside, sending it zinging upwards into space.

"Enough of that," I said. "Try _this_!"

Before the thugs could move, I thrust my hand out. Light gathered around it, and blasted them down. They were merely bricks when it faded.

"Well, that was easy enough," I said. "Now I have some more bricks to build with."

"Ohhhh…"

I turned in surprise to see that girl regaining consciousness. But the wound still wasn't fully healed…

"Uh…where am I?" the girl wondered, looking around.

"You got hurt and then I rescued you?" I said. Perhaps I should have walked into her field of vision.

"UWAH!" the girl shouted, jumping. She immediately winced, as she landed on her wound. "_Itai_…"

"Um…what?" I asked. "I don't know what you just said…"

"Oh…I just speak a lot in another language," the girl said, laughing a little nervously. "Um…when did you get there?"

"I've _been_ here for a while," I said, putting the Black Sword on my back.

The girl's eyes widened. "That sword…wasn't I stabbed by it a second ago?"

"Well, actually, no," I said. "I found you falling from the sky with it in your side. I pulled it out, and your wound is healing now. So…you might want to stay still for a while. It takes time to recover, you know."

"Oh…okay…" the girl said. She looked up towards the sky, seeming kind of sad. "I can't believe I lost so easily…"

"Hey," I said. "You probably tangled with one of the worst thugs out there. Even I'm hard pressed to fight them."

"Oh…I see…" the girl said. She seemed a bit distant. "Um…_arigato._ No, I mean, thank you."

"Don't mention it," I said, going back to rebuilding my car. "I'm Ray, by the way."

"I'm Terra," the girl said. "Um…Ray? What are you doing in a world of…um…LEGOs?"

I laughed. "I wouldn't say LEGOs," I said. "They're more like…giant oversized bricks. I came here to see if it would be any fun. And it is pretty fun making whatever you imagine come to life. See here-"

I pulled out a brick. "What is this exactly?"

Terra looked at it, seeming unsure. "It's, um…a brick?"

"No," I said. "I mean, yeah, it is, but…it could be metal, or a rock, or maybe even lava! Do you see? The possibilities are _endless_! That's what makes this place awesome!"

"Oh…I see…" Terra said. "Um, what are you doing…with the bricks?"

"Oh, I'm making a racecar!" I said. "Pretty awesome, huh?"

"Uh, right…" Terra said. "Where do you plan to race?"

"Through this place!" I said. "Don't you see all the roads around?"

"Oh, right…" Terra got up, not meeting my eyes. She must be pretty shy. "I think my wound is all better now. Thank you…" Her expression suddenly hardened. "Ray, behind you!"

"What?" I whirled to see a bunch of guys with magic wands. "The heck?" I shouted as I flipped over a spell. "Since when did they learn how to use magic?"

"We have to stop them!" Terra said. "I'll do it!" She drew her hands back, and then smashed them forward, and emeralds crystallized in the air and blasted into the magic guys. But they launched spells at the emeralds, and only five went down. Ten left.

Of course, I was pretty surprised. "Whoa…" I said. "Where'd the crystals come from?" _And more importantly, in that split second before the emeralds took solid form…why'd they emit energy like the lasers I use?_

I didn't have time to contemplate that, either, because I suddenly had to dodge a flaming spell. In other words, a cheap shot. "Oh that is IT!"

I pointed my finger at them. "How's _this_ for a laser pointer?" I shouted, blasting a beam of white light and mowing down the guy who attacked me. He immediately exploded into bricks.

"_Sugoi…_!" Terra shouted. Suddenly, she remembered where she was, and sidestepped a football tackle. Then she kicked him into the air, raced up to another one, and smashed him hard in the gut.

**BOOM!**

The guy shook, and then blasted upwards hard. I stared after him. Then I raised both of my hands, and blasted light out of them. The other two went flying up. I raced after them, and raised my hand. Massive amounts of light spiraled around it.

Terra was on the other side, and green energy was filling the air around her. She had her fist clenched.

"Falcon PUNCH!" I shouted. Both our fists smashed into the guys.

**KA-BOOM!**

Massive emeralds exploded outwards around the area we struck. Light radiated in all directions, and the earth shook with an earthquake. But what made all this?

We landed, and Terra was staring at me, shocked. "How…did you just control Light?"

"Yeah," I said. "But…how did you create those emeralds? And more importantly…how does the energy used to create them seem similar to mine in pattern?"

"Ray," Terra said. "That light power…haven't you noticed that your energy harmonizes my own?"

"Well…yeah…" I said. "What could that mean?"

"That can only mean…" Terra took in a breath. "You're a Shining Star."

I didn't know what to say. Because I didn't know what a Shining Star was, either. "Uhh…what?"

"Haven't you heard about them?" Terra asked. I shook my head. "Oh…okay…" Terra began to explain who she thought they were. "That's what I thought…but then…there's another Shining Star. One of Shadow, and he not only gave us many problems, but he revealed his identity recently. Now my friends don't trust each other. Please, Ray…" she looked up at me. "Will you help us?"

I remembered what she said about what was at stake. "Sure," I said. "I'd be glad to! Let's go!"

"Um…how?" Terra asked. "Have you already-"

"Completed the racecar?" I asked, tossing a brick. It landed neatly in place. "Yes," I said. "Now...come on! Let's go find a way for you to get back to your friends!"

* * *

I raced down the streets at a reckless pace (though not as reckless as _last_ time). I was having the time of my life, but Terra was gripping the seat for dear life.

"What's with you?" I asked. "Isn't this awesome?"

"It really looks like any minute we're going to crash…" Terra said, her eyes squeezed shut.

"That's what makes it fun," I said. "'Cause _avoiding_ the crash and getting as _close_ to it as possible is the idea."

"Yeah…whatever you say," Terra said, not convinced.

* * *

_Elsewhere…_

A bunch of idiots were tossing bricks at other people.

"What are they doing…?" Axel wondered, watching from some rooftop.

"Being idiots?" Aeron said. "After all, they have bricks for heads. Or should I say blocks?"

…

Everyone instantly cracked up. Then Axel recovered. "Okay, back to business. We gotta find Terra and do…something…"

"Faaaaaaaiiil," Aeron said, tossing bricks to create a bridge over to the next rooftop.

"I agree with that," Ben said, making a cameo. "GIVE ME A DIME! No, wait…I MEAN, CAMEO TIME! =D"

…

"Wait, wait, wait…you literally owe me a dime," Ben said. "You see, every time I make a cameo, I get a dime from you. And so, if you could FINALLY pay off what you owe me…then I may leave…and come back some day."

Axel took one look at Ben. "Here's a dime." He tossed it to Ben.

Ben turned it over to see a Bomb-omb decorating it. "WHAT THE FU-"

**BOOM!**

"WAAAAAAAH~YOU STILL OWE ME A BUNCH OF DIMES~" Ben shouted as he went flying away.

"What a moron," Aeron said. "Now let's keep going." He jumped over to the next rooftop and knocked some guy with a bazooka off the edge, where a racecar ran him over. "Come on, let's go-"

_Trip._

"WAAAAAH!" Aeron shouted, falling into another alley.

"AERON?" Mario shouted after him.

* * *

_Back to where we were…_

"Crap, we're running low on gas," I said as the car began to slow down.

"Wait…this thing runs on gas?" Terra asked.

"I MEAN FUEL!" I shouted. "Well, actually, we have to continuously load bricks into the car to keep it running."

"Right…" Terra said. "How do you plan on getting bricks, Ray?"

"Oh, that's an easy one, I-"

*insert record scratch here*

…

"…never mind, I don't have a plan," I said lamely.

"We could try to demolish the wall," Terra said.

"Oh yeah, that would work!" I said. "That was the best plan I ever thought of!"

Terra cried a couple anime style tears before helping me smash a building to pieces with our powers.

"That was easy!" I said. "Now, come on, let's go!"

_One second later…_

We were going at Mach 6. I was screaming in joy. Terra was screaming in terror.

"WOOHOO!" I shouted. "THIS IS AWESOME!"

"DO YOU SEE THAT MINIFIGURE?" Terra shouted, pointing at a guy with a bazooka that was falling in front of us. I couldn't hit the brakes in time. We ran over him.

"Whoops," I said. "I hope that was a bad guy."

Suddenly, we rounded a corner, and there was a non LEGO guy in green and gold falling in front of us.

"WHAT THE HECK?" I shouted, slamming the brakes on.

"OH MY GOD, AERON!" Terra shouted.

**RUNNETH OVER'D**

We slammed into him and skidded about ten meters.

"AERON, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" Terra shouted, jumping out of the car and running over to his side.

"Wait, you know him?" I asked.

"Yes!" Terra said. "He must have thought I was in trouble and come to help…but now we hurt him…"

"He's unconscious now," I said.

"I hope he's alright…" Terra suddenly frowned. "Wait, what's that?"

"Zzzsnore…" Aeron muttered.

"HE'S ASLEEP?" I shouted.

"He's like that a lot," we heard. We turned and saw a guy in blue and silver coming. "Aeron somehow seems to not be alright…and then it turns out he is alright."

"Ah, Axel!" Terra said. "You've arrived!"

"You ran off alone," Axel said, annoyed. "Are Shining Stars meant to be incredibly reckless?"

"Well," Terra said, blushing a little. "Sorry. I guess I just really needed to…oh! Axel! You won't believe it!"

"Won't believe what?" Axel asked. "You came here to find the Shining Star of Light…and…?"

"I found him!" Terra said excitedly. "Look! I'd like you to meet Ray."

"Hey," I said. "Not totally sure what she's talking about, but I'll do what I can to help you."

"I'm Axel Nightblazer," Axel said. "Okay, then, let's get moving. We've got a Star to find."

"Let's-a go!" Mario said. "Come on, Axel, Aeron, Terra, dork who made us get a new enemy!"

Terra sighed. "Are they still mad at each other?"

"Yeah," Axel said. "Come on, Ray, let's go."

* * *

"WHAT?" Mario shouted. "YOU DON'T KNOW WHO I AM?"

"Nope," I said. "Only that you think I live under a rock. Which I don't."

"This car is rather small…" Luigi said.

I suddenly pulled up short next to the edge. "Crap, we can't get over."

Terra pulled herself back into the car, having nearly been pitched out. "So…what should we do?"

"Do any of you have bricks?" I asked.

"We picked up a few," Axel said, handing them to me. "Do you have a plan?"

"Oh do I?" I said. "Just watch me."

I began to throw bricks together to create a rocket. "Just let your imagination go to work, and it'll do wonders!" I said.

"Ray, there are morons coming!" Luigi said. "We'll defend you! Get whatever it is you're making done!"

"Right!" I said. "There's the engine…" I grabbed another set of bricks and began to build the cockpit. "Crap, there aren't enough bricks!"

"We'll just have to get more!" Axel said. "But where can we get some?"

Luigi broke open a crate and began throwing bricks out of it. The cockpit was quickly finished, but now there were no more bricks around. The thugs had smashed open everything and taken the bricks away!

"We'll just have to follow them!" Axel said, jumping into the racecar. He sped off somewhere.

"Mario and Luigi, search in the alley to the right!" I said.

"I refuse!" Mario said. "I will _not_ go with him!"

"Then I'll go!" I shouted. "Terra, go with Mario!" I ran down an alley with Luigi to find the thugs running away with boxes full of bricks.

Luigi ran after them and threw a Green Shell. The bandits dodged, but it crashed against a lamppost, sending bricks tumbling on top of them. I ran over and blasted a laser at the pile of bricks, eliminating them. Then I reached into the pile and grabbed the box. "Come on, let's go!" I said.

But that was easier said than done. Because a bunch of morons with Black Swords were coming our way.

"Uh oh," Luigi said. "What are we gonna do?"

"Hold the box!" I shouted, tossing it to him (and flattening him). "Time to go awesome swordsman!"

I drew the Black Sword that was on my back, and then charged forward, slashing at the bandits.

Our swords met. We hacked, slashed, stabbed, EVERYTHING someone with a sword could do against each other…and it was still an indecisive battle.

The Bandit slashed at me again. But this time, I dodged and sliced at his sword's hilt.

_KLANG!_ Before I knew it, the sword in his hand went flying into the air to smash into another bandit.

"Oh, so you have to disarm them," I said. Then I quickly sliced and dispatched the guy I was fighting. "Next?"

The other swordsman made attacks, but every clashdown resulted the same way: their sword would go spinning out of their hands (sometimes crashing into one of their comrades) and then I could defeat them quickly.

* * *

_In the end…_

I stood over a heap of bricks. "Okay…now who's next?"

There was no response. "Um…Ray, there's no one left," Luigi said.

"Oh yeah," I said. "Come on, let's get back to the rocket!"

Suddenly, a massive block dropped down in front of us, trapping us.

"WHAT THE HECK?" Luigi shouted.

I sighed and dropped the sword, and walked up to the wall. "Falcon PUNCH!"

**KA-BLAM!**

"Okay!" I said. "There we go!"

We returned to the rocket to see Terra and Mario returning with another box.

"We got another box of bricks," Terra said. "We had to beat down some thugs to get it."

"But they couldn't stand up to _me_!" Mario said. "Because I am so awesome!"

"SHUT UP!" we heard.

"WHA-" Mario began.

**RUNNETH OVER'D**

Axel drove up in the racecar…over Mario. "Hey, I got a box of bricks," he said, holding it up.

"Great!" I said. "Now…" I dumped out the contents of all three boxes and began to build the nosecone.

Suddenly, a spear lodged itself in the ground next to me. "WAH!" I shouted. "WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?"

"It's a person!" Axel said. "Obviously. That's holding a spear."

"Great," I said. "But they're too late, because I just…" I slammed the last brick into place. "Finished the rocket! Ready for blastoff!"

"Get in quickly!" Luigi said. "We can't waste time here!"

We jumped into the rocket, and it blasted off, jetting us off into the higher levels of the galaxy.

* * *

When we landed, we ended up on some big building. And it only went higher.

"Sheesh," Aeron muttered, looking up (he woke up during the ride). "Now we have to work harder."

"You're lazy?" I said. "This is gonna be AWESOME!" I jumped at the tower's wall, and then sprang off it into the air.

It was then that I noticed the guy with the bazooka above me.

"Aw man," I said. "This is just _not_ my day."

**KA-BOOM!**

"Wait…what?" I shouted as many blue blasts of lightning crashed against the bazooka guy, smashing him to pieces.

Axel hopped off a ledge and landed on the area where the bazooka guy was. "You're not a solo worker, Ray. Got it?"

"Right," I said, grabbing the platform. "Well, just make sure you can keep up."

"You're flexing muscle you don't have," Axel said, grinning. "But you're on!"

I pushed upwards and threw myself towards the next platforms. Axel jumped up, and then suddenly he just faded slowly.

"Wait…that was an _afterimage_!" I said. "Darn it, he's too fast."

"You're too slow, Ray!" I heard Axel shout from high above.

I sighed and grabbed the next ledge and threw myself up. Then I landed on another ledge and turned to find a guy with…a banana?

"Oh, crap," I said suddenly.

Immediately, the guy tossed the banana and quickly ran for it. And monkeys piled up on me.

"Get…off…of…ME!" I shouted, throwing off light in all directions, knocking the monkeys to distant galaxies.

"Ray, are you alright?" Terra asked, jumping and landing on the ledge that I was on.

"Huh?" I said. "Yeah, just fine. I can handle _anything_!"

Terra smiled. "That's good," she said. "Now…shall we continue climbing?"

"Sure!" I said. "This should be easy!"

Terra looked at me in the eye. "What are the bricks underneath me made of?" she asked.

I looked down. They were brown. "Uh…I don't know?" I said. "Because I don't know what br-"

"They're Earth…if you imagine them to be," Terra said. Then suddenly I noticed-the clouds were shooting downwards. Terra was using the earth underneath us to send us flying up!

We reached the top in no time. But Axel and Aeron were standing there, frowning.

"Axel, Aeron, is something wrong?" Terra asked.

"Yes," Axel said. "Doesn't this tower seem…incomplete to you?"

We looked around. It seemed that there were pillars around, but now they were shattered. Something on the floor had had many of its bricks removed. And…what was left of the roof was full of holes, and something dangled from the roof: a golden bell.

"Whoa!" I said.

"_Uruwashii…_!" Terra whispered.

"Um…more of that other language?" I said, not understanding.

"Ah, yeah," Terra said. "It means 'Beautiful'. But, um…do you think we could put it back together?"

"Are you kidding?" I asked, smashing apart some pot. "What can't you do when you have bricks and imagination?"

"Then let's start building!" Aeron said, grabbing a statue and smashing it.

Slowly but surely, the ten pillars began to grow as we tossed bricks onto them. And eventually, they were standing at full height.

"Great!" Terra said. "Now…"

"Sorry it took so long," Luigi said. "I can't climb very well."

"Did you find any bricks?" Axel asked.

"Yeah," Luigi said. "I thought it might be wise to keep some on hand.

"Let's see them," Aeron said, holding his hand out. He examined the bricks. "Ah…I think this will work!"

More bricks flew, and then the roof was complete! "Is this what we accomplished together?" Terra asked, amazed.

"Yeah," Axel said. "That's what unity can do."

"Huff…hey guys, I made it!" Mario said.

"Did you bring any bricks?" Aeron said.

"No," Mario said.

Everyone sighed. "Oh well," Axel said, tossing some translucent bricks at the pillars. "Now…are we out of bricks?"

"Yep," I said. "That was our last one."

"CRAP!" Axel said. "What do we do?"

"We could-" Aeron began.

"No," Axel said.

"Huh?" Aeron said.

"No!" Axel shouted.

"What?" Aeron said.

"Why?" Axel asked.

"Huh?" Aeron said.

"Maybe!" Axel shouted.

"What?" Aeron shouted, confused.

"NO!" Axel shouted.

"Sheesh, haven't you heard of freedom of speech?" Aeron said. "Besides…" He jumped off the side and then came back up with a gold statue. "Now we have bricks."

Terra threw the bricks upward, where they finished the bell. "Now the tower is whole once more!"

Luigi grabbed something and began to ring the bell. It produced a clear tone…no, wait, it was a song altogether! And the gems began to glow…red, white, cerulean, ocean blue, emerald green, forest green, pink, silver, light green, and black. Then we noticed the design on the floor.

"It's a Star!" Terra said as the lines on it began to flash.

"Yeah, but…" Mario frowned. "What's with its eyes? One's green and gold, the other silver and blue."

"And on each angle," Luigi said. "There's a symbol. Six oval shaped emeralds in a circle, some falling rain droplets, a thundercloud, rainbow light radiating from somewhere, a shroud of black, a _sakura_, a green tornado, a hexagonal snowflake, two swords crossing, and a red flame…huh!"

"The emeralds: Earth. The rain: Water. The thundercloud: Thunder. The radiating rainbow: Light. The black shroud: Shadow. The _sakura_: Plantlife. The tornado: Wind. The snowflake: Ice. The swords: Metal. And the flame: Fire. Those…" Aeron looked at them. "Are the ten forces of nature. The Shining Stars."

"This is a lasting symbol of their power," Terra said. "And…when united, they can achieve their full potential…and their duty."

"And united," I said. "That's how they can achieve their destiny."

"Exactly," Aeron said. "You realize that as Shining Stars, you have a big job. And…the only way we can all succeed in our goals is to unite with each other."

"But does that mean-" Mario began.

"Mario," Aeron said calmly. "Everyone deserves a second chance. Luigi didn't mean to create Shade."

"So…Mario, can you forgive me?" Luigi asked.

Mario looked at his brother. "Luigi…all right. I forgive you."

The symbols flashed, and then a Star was floating in front of us.

"This is how we will achieve our destiny," Terra said. "United."

"I'll be there for you," I said. "For all of you."

"Thanks, Ray," Axel said.

**WE GOT A STAR!**

* * *

The Star pulled us through space to allow us to land on a strange planetoid that looked like Mario's head in SHAPE. But personally, I think it looked more like Luigi in color.

"What the-?" some big purple star-shaped creature with pants said. "Who's this?"

"I'm Ray," I said. "I'm the Shining Star of Light! I heard about what you were doing, and decided to lend a hand!"

"Lubba," Terra said. "Please let Ray ride with us. He's the one who allowed us to leave our despair behind."

"Alright," Lubba said. "A new crew member is always appreciated! Welcome to Starship Mario, Ray!"

"I hope you feel welcome here," Mario said.

"I will!" I said. "Now…what do we do now?"

"We could take you on a tour of Starship Mario," Aeron said.

"Sure!" I said. "Let's start now!"

"Alright," Aeron said, walking away. "If you'd come with me…"

(This part has only the audio for fun.)

"Corn!"

"What? Ray, what are you-"

"Corn!" _Boing!_

**BOOOOOOOM!**

"**RAAAAAAAAAY!"**


	15. Too Many Idiots with Weird Voices

**With Ray now on our side, our hopes had risen again. Thing is, we still had one thing to worry about:**

**Idiots. More specifically, the ones with weird sounding voices. Who made this cruel joke?**

* * *

**Traveler's Log Entry 12: Too Many Idiots with Weird Voices**

**Stars: 12**

**Mario**

* * *

Hello! WAHOO! It's-a me, Mario! I am the most awesome person in the world! HUAL! I am also really gay! Lolololol

**SMASH!**

OW! LUIGI, WHAT WAS THAT FOR? IT'S NOT MY FAULT YOU DIDN'T GET TO HAVE THOSE SHROOMS! Expired? What the heck are you talking about? No way they could be expired!

Anyway, well, we were sitting around on Starship Mario, taking a break and whatever…well, except Aeron. He was trying to kill Ray.

"AAAAAAAH!" Ray shouted. "STOP! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?"

"THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR CAUSING A MASSIVE EARTHQUAKE YOU (explicative removed)!" Aeron shouted, waving his sword. "DIE!"

"Here we go again," Luigi said.

I looked at him, still not being able to fathom how he had created such an evil as Shade. But, he didn't know that would happen, so we can't blame him.

"I'm sure they'll end soon," Axel said. "In the meantime, what should we do?"

**TECHNO**

**DANCE**

**PARTY**

And, for another time Caramelldansen played, and we danced! =D

* * *

"Well, that was fun," I said. But then I noticed Ben was still dancing…HEY WAIT A MINUTE!

"GET THE (explicative removed) OUT OF HERE!" Axel shouted, smashing Ben to a distant galaxy.

"YOU OWE ME A DIIIIIIME~" Ben shouted as he went flying to that distant galaxy.

"O…k…" Luigi said. "Well, anyway-"

"GIVE ME A DIME!" Ben shouted, tackling Luigi out of nowhere.

"FALCON PUNCH!" Ray shouted.

**KA-BOOM!**

"WAAAAAAAAH~" Ben shouted.

"Okay, and as I was saying-" Luigi said.

"YOU STILL OWE ME A DIME!" Ben shouted, making another tackle.

"GET LOST AND DON'T COME BACK!" Aeron shouted, swinging a giant gravity hammer.

**KA-BOOOOOM!**

"WAAAAAAAAAAAH~" Ben shouted as he went flying.

"Wow, three cameos in a row?" Axel said. "We need to do something about him."

"Well, anyway," Aeron said, biting into some mysterious berry. "We should get moving soon. We've been spending a while resting."

"Where did you get that berry, anyway?" I asked, pointing at the berry in his hand.

"Oh, this?" Aeron said. "It's from Yoshi's Island. When our friends there transported a Yoshi here, they also got some Yoshi fruit to feed it. But we can also eat them. They taste pretty good."

"Ohhh," I said. "By the way…" I couldn't finish. I cracked up. Because the berry had left a sticky pink juice all over Aeron's mouth, which made him look really funny.

Aeron got annoyed when Axel, Luigi and Ray all followed suit. "What's so funny, guys?" he said.

"Your face!" Ray said. "It's pink all over! Hahahaha!"

"_Kanaetai yume tooi kedo,  
Isshou nara dekiru yo, muteki no yuuki de…  
Kirakira hikaru sono namida,  
Egao no mahou de ne tsubasa ni kaetara…  
Kitto, kitto, habatakeru kara…  
Niji wo koe sono saki made!"_

(Here's a translation for the whole thing.

The dream I want to fulfill is far away  
But if we're together, I can do it, with an invincible courage  
If I can turn your sparkling tears  
Into wings with the magic of smiles  
Surely, surely you'll be able to fly  
So go over the rainbow, to beyond)

What? SHUT UP, LUIGI! WHO CARES ABOUT PUNCTUATION?

"Who was that?" Ray asked, looking around.

"Oh, that was Terra singing," I said, looking at the nose of Starship Mario, where Terra was standing. "She's pretty good, right?"

"Well, yeah," Ray said.

Terra suddenly noticed we were talking about her. She blushed a little. "Um…" She quickly jumped off somewhere.

"Hm…well, she's also pretty shy about other people hearing her singing," Luigi said. "But…where should we go next?"

"Well, we could go back to the Over Building Galaxy and get more Stars," Aeron said. "Or would you rather explore new territory?"

"I'll go with a new galaxy," Ray said. But no one paid attention to him. Instead, they looked at me. After all, I _was_ the captain.

"I say we go back to Over Building!" I said. "Ray, do you know of any Stars?"

"Well, one," Ray said. "Thing is, it's gonna be hard to get to."

"Well, come on then, let's go!" Axel said. "Come on, Terra, we're going."

"Huh? U-um, right!" Terra shouted, getting up from wherever she ran to and ran to the wheel.

"Alright, let's-a go!" I said. "And nothing can stop us!"

"Even Shade?" Terra asked.

"Not even Shade!" I said. "Now-" I walked up to the wheel, but then a massive block landed in front of me, blocking my way.

"NOTHING" was written on it.

"'Nothing' just stopped you," Aeron said, putting a marker away.

"Shaddap," I said.

* * *

_And so…_

"UWAAAAAHHH!"

**KABOOM!**

Terra had destroyed an entire buildiver m, eWHAT THE (explicative removed) ARE YOU DOING, BEHJTHJ!

**(The author's friend started messing with the keyboard. Please stand by.)**

* * *

_One destruction of haxors later…_

Terra had destroyed an entire building upon contact, due to landing too hard…and going off course.

"_Itai_…" Terra groaned. "What happened…?"

"Ahahahaha!" Aeron said. "gibveBEN GET THE (ejxplicative removed) OUT OF HERE FOOL!"

**(The author's friend is still messing with the keyboard. Please stand by while we pwn him.)**

"…..you….still owe me a dime…GIVE ME MY DIMES!" said Ben.

"Hey, why is Ben suddenly distorting our speech?" Luigi asked, smashing Ben with his hammer.

"Because he's gay, that's why," Ray said.

"Ray, there's nothing wrong with being gay," Aeron said. "It's just that they're…gay."

"Riiiight," Ray said. "Whatever. Anyway, let's go get some Stars!" He ran towards the edge of the building we were on.

"CRAP!" Axel shouted. "SOMEBODY STOP HIM!"

"Corn!"

**BOOOM!**

"RAAAAAAAAAY!"

* * *

_One epicless pwnage later…_

Ray lay on the ground, eyes turned to Xs.

"Well then…" Aeron said. "Let's get moving. And…what should we do about Ray?"

"I'll carry him," Luigi said, walking over to pick Ray up. "I think I should be strong enough."

Nice going, genius. Ray's way too tall for you. I mean, come on. HE'S 1.75 FREAKIN' METERS, FOR GOD'S SAKE!

"I'll do it," Aeron sighed. (Note: Aeron is slightly over 195 cm tall. THAT'S [way too] TALL!)

"Um, guys, is it just me," Terra said, pointing, "or did this suddenly turn into Star Wars?"

"Battle Droids!" Axel shouted, seeing the tan robots running in our direction. "Where did they come from?"

**ZOOM!**

"WHOA!" Luigi shouted as they raced past, sending his hat flying into the air.

"…and where are they going?" I wondered as they ran off.

An army of LEGOfied Clone Troopers ran from the other direction. The two sides clashed and started shooting each other, shouting insults at the other side. "Surrender and be destroyed!" a droid said.

"Roger roger!" another Battle Droid said, and he dropped his gun and threw his hands into the air.

*insert record scratch here*

"WHAT THE (explicative removed)?" I shouted. The Clones and the Droids stared in shock, and then a Clone shot him.

"Faaaaaaiiil," Axel said. "OKAY NOW LET'S BLOW THEM UP! XD"

Axel jumped into the massive mass of Clones and Droids. He began to spin in midair, silver circling around him…

"_Wangetsu Gufuu_!" Axel shouted, spinning through the army and creating a massive cyclone which destroyed the droids/clones.

"…was it necessary to destroy the Clones, too?" Luigi asked.

"Shaddap," Axel said. "I can do whatever I want."

…

"…so I can FIRE MAH LAZOR BLAAAARRGGH!" Axel shouted, blasting a massive beam of light into the sky.

"Miss," I said, now happy to know that Axel wasn't the best. Besides, everyone knows that _I_ am the most awesome.

Axel pointed upward, and suddenly, the sky turned to night. The moon winked out, then went FULL and-

"Ara, this doesn't look too good…" Terra said.

"HOLY S-" Luigi began.

**KA-BOOOOOOM!**

Everyone except Axel was fried and blackened. And we all coughed in chorus.

"Have you been…cough…eating almonds recently, Axel?" Aeron said.

"Yeah, why?" Axel said innocently.

Aeron groaned. "I _thought_ we put you on an almond ban."

"But they taste good!" Axel protested.

"Yeah, and they cause you to fire Lazors, which puts everyone in danger," Aeron said. "So…YOU IDIOT!" Aeron made a fast recovery and tried to football tackle Axel.

"Um, should we break them up?" Terra asked.

"Nah," I said. "The best course of action is to probably search for the Star. Cough…and maybe some ointment, too."

* * *

_Elsewhere…_

Little did we know that Shade was here, too.

"Okay, so the Star is…dang it, where the heck is it? I can't sense its presence," Shade growled. "Whatever." He turned to his troops. "Fan out! If you find anything, report back immediately!"

"Yes sir!" the Koopa Troop shouted, and they all ran off in different directions.

Shade watched them go, then noticed a causeway up above that no one bothered to notice. "Stay here," he told the remaining troops (about 8 Hammer Bros.) and he vaulted up to the causeway above.

"Okay," Shade said, landing on the platform. "Okay, as my totally fail template would say…Let's a go! I have a feeling that NOTHING will go wrong!"

It appears someone should've told him about the many pillars lining the sides of the path. That were about to fall.

"HUAL HUAL HUAL HUAL HUAL HUAL HUAL HUAL HUAL HUAL HUAL HUAL HUAL HUAL HUAL HUAL HUAL HUAL HUAL HUAL HUAL HUAL HUAL HUAL HUAL HUAL!"

…

"HUAL!"

* * *

_Back where we were…_

"What was _that_?" Ray (who had regained consciousness) shouted, hearing "HUAL!" somewhere in the distance.

"What was what?" Terra asked. "Um, you mean the sounds of, um, an Italian plumber getting hurt?"

"HEY!" I shouted, as for some reason I shout "HUAL!" whenever I got hurt.

"Yeah, that's what it sounded like!" Ray said, ignoring me.

"Nope, didn't hear anything," Axel said, taking his headphones off his ears.

"ANYWAY," Aeron said, "Let's get back to searching. And no, when I say 'searching,' I don't mean destroying everything in sight."

"But what else can we do?" Ray complained. "That's the most efficient searching method!"

"Well, anyway," I said, ending the debate. "come on guys, let's a WHAT THE HECK ARE THESE GUYS DOING HERE?"

"What?" Aeron shouted, whipping around.

Koopa Troop had arrived on the scene! Or rather, Hammer Bros. and Boomerang Bros.

"Who the heck are _they_?" Ray asked, having never seen the Koopa Troop before.

"They're the Koopa Troop, our enemies!" I explained. "Coem on, Ray, hope you know how to fight!"

"Oh, do I?" Ray asked. "Watch this." He thrust out his hand, and fired a laser at a Boomerang Bro, frying him. Then he spun around and kicked a Hammer Bro in the face. He made a gesture with his hand, and light shone around a Boomerang Bro, blinding him. And then he thrust his hands out, and light intensified, decimating the forces it shone on.

"Easy," Ray said proudly. And not noticing that a boomerang that a Boomerang had gone flying out of a Boomerang Bro's hand…and was flying straight at the back of his head.

**THWACK!**

"OW!" Ray shouted.

"Hahaha!" Luigi laughed.

"Get over here YOU JERK!" Ray shouted, tackling Luigi hard.

"Eh…" Terra looked at them. "Should we-"

"Move on?" Axel said. "Sure." And he walked off, with Aeron following. I decided to follow as well. Terra cried some anime style tears before moving to follow us. And then Luigi and Ray realized they were being left behind and moved to follow us.

Leaping through the streets, we found something blocking our way…

"_Nani_?" Terra said, screeching to a halt.

"What the..?" Aeron said.

*insert _Duel of the Fates_ from _Star Wars_ here...except sung by a dork*

*insert record scratch here*

"WHO'S SINGING?" Axel shouted, getting annoyed.

"That would be me," the dorky voice said. And it belonged to a guy in brown armor with red eyes, teeth, a really fat face, spines leading to the back of his head and the top parts of his arms, a gray torso and webbed feet.

"Um…who are you?" Ray asked, looking annoyed.

"I am…" the brown guy stopped talking and singing music that SHOULD have been dramatic…but he made it dorky.

"JUST GET TO THE POINT, (explicative removed)!" Axel shouted.

"Fine," the brown guy said. "I am Avak. And I am here to defeat you for coming to this place which I call My Turf!"

"How can _you_ defeat us?" I asked. "You don't seem to be very strong."

"Well, that depends," Avak said. He hummed a little, and then finally said: "Would anyone like to volunteer?"

"Volunteer?" Ray said. "For what?"

"For me to demonstrate my powers. Never mind. I'll choose you." Avak closed his eyes and began to glow bronze.

Ray began to object, but then suddenly found himself in a cage! "Wha-hey! Who put this here?" He tried to break the cage, but not even a light-enhanced chop could break it!

"A cage?" Aeron said. "If this is the best you can do, then-"

"It isn't." Avak said, grinning. He held his hands out, and then two robotic arms popped out of the sides of the buildings nearby, handing him a sphere shooter and a gun that looked like a jackhammer and a pickaxe combined.

Avak spun the jackhammer around in his hand, then caught it. "I warn you, I have a trigger happy side! Watch out!"

**Note by the author: This incarnation of Avak is based on that of the one in the movies of Xakano, a Youtuber who makes videos about the Piraka. Credit goes to him for Avak's…well, everything.**

* * *

**Boss: Avak**

Terra shouted, racing towards Avak and forming emeralds on her fingertips. Energy blades appeared, and she tried to slash Avak. She didn't notice Avak's eyes flashing…

"There!" Avak said suddenly. He brought up his jackhammer, and pulled the trigger. A stream of orange arrow-shaped blasts fired, smashing into Terra.

**BOOM KRASH BANG SMASH KABOOOM!**

"Augh…" The spots on her shoulder where Avak had shot her smoking, Terra sank to the ground.

"No!" I shouted, running over to where she was. "I'm going to-"

"Do _what_?" Avak asked, bringing up his sphere shooter. "I'll finish for you. You'll get exploded by my Zamors."

Avak pulled the trigger on that, and a green energy sphere formed, and he blasted several green spheres of energy. I watched as they bounced to land around me. "What the-?" Then they began to glow…

"GET OUT OF THERE MARIO!" Luigi shouted, running. He tackled me hard, sending me flying across the street.

"OW!" I shouted as I hit the wall hard. But then suddenly, there was a burst of sound. A column of green filled the air. And when I looked over, the Zamor Spheres were gone. Luigi lay there, smoking. "LUIGI!" I shouted.

"I'd be more worried about myself if I were you!" Avak shouted, laughing wildly. His eyes flashed as he launched lasers at us, smashing the pavement as we dodged.

"This is bad," I said. "Without Luigi, I can't execute a whole ton of my moves!"

Axel sighed. "Anyone got good ideas?" He sliced through Ray's cage, destroying it.

"You could use _Ketatamashi Getsu_," Ray said as he climbed out. He and Axel quickly jumped away as Avak launched several meteor-like projectiles at where they were from his sphere shooter.

"No, Ray, that wouldn't do at all," Axel replied. "I must charge it, and focus lots of energy into it. Avak will not give me a chance to perform that attack."

"Then maybe you could send a storm of _Getsu Taihos_!" Ray suggested, dodging a Zamor Sphere.

"His attacks would cut right through that," Axel said. "Aeron, maybe you could use Ikazuchi Chikara?"

"I think that should work," Aeron said, leveling his sword and gathering lightning. "Ikazuch-"

"I don't approve," Avak said, bronze surrounding him. And then Aeron was in a cage, too!

"What?" I shouted as Aeron tried to break free. "How is he doing it? How can he trap _Aeron_, of all people?"

"He makes prisons, Mario," Axel said. "And he creates them to be invulnerable to the prisoner's abilities so that he cannot get free…_on his own_!"

Axel cut the cage open with his blades. "But with the vibrating action of _Shiruba-Getsu_, I can cut you out!"

"Thanks," Aeron said. "I was worried I'd have to go serious."

"Then that would be bad," Axel said. Suddenly, he narrowed his eyes, and stepped back as Avak began firing his jackhammer. The arrows hit the area he used to be in, creating massive explosions.

Aeron flipped out of the way of several meteors coming his way, and then pointed his finger, green coming to the tip. "_Shinsei Taiho_!" he shouted.

But the beam barely escaped from his finger when Avak blasted a Zamor Sphere into it. Aeron's eyes widened as green and gold exploded in every direction. Avak watched it, smiling smugly.

"No! Aeron!" Ray shouted. "Why you-" He ran at Avak, light energy gathering at his hands.

Avak brought up his jackhammer and blasted, sending a stream of orange arrows. Ray jumped away, preparing a kick. Light began to gather at it…suddenly, a Zamor crashed into Ray's foot, dispelling the light!

"What?" Ray shouted. "How did he-" He didn't have time to get away before the explosion.

"Analysis, my friend," Avak said. "I saw the energy gather, and decided to dispel it. Elementary."

"This won't be so 'elementary,' mind you," Aeron said, emerging from the explosion. His blade began to glow green, and he jumped towards Avak. "_Reppuzan_!" he shouted, wind whipping around him.

Avak narrowed his eyes, then pulled the trigger on his Zamor Launcher, launching a meteor.

"That won't work!" Aeron shouted, zooming away. Then he noticed where it was going. "No, wait-"

The meteor crashed into a building's weak point, sending LEGOs flying everywhere and actually _collapsing_ it. Axel and I were standing right underneath it!

"Crap!" I shouted. "We're gonna get crushed!"

Axel narrowed his eyes. "Not if I have anything to say about it," he said. "_Getsuga Tensho_!" Axel sent a wave of silver upwards from his sword, slicing the building in half and allowing them to fall neatly around us.

"My turn!" Ray shouted, light still around his hands. He ran towards Avak. "And this time, I won't fail!"

Avak looked at him, beginning to glow bronze…but then suddenly he shouted and the glow faded. "What's this?" he shouted, looking down.

Terra was holding onto his ankle, emeralds slowly beginning to encase him. But it was clear she was on the edge of her consciousness, and she was badly hurt from getting hit with Avak's firearm.

"Y-you!" Avak shouted. "What are you doing?" He leveled his Zamor Sphere launcher at her.

"I have it figured out now," Terra said, her voice very low. "You concentrate on the person you want to imprison, and it appears. But it requires all your attention. So I can stop the prison forming by distracting you."

"Why you-" Avak formed a Zamor Sphere and blasted. A green explosion occurred RIGHT NEXT TO HIM.

Axel reappeared, holding Terra. I didn't even see him _disappear_, now that I think about it. He set Terra against the wall. "You're too badly injured," he said. "Rest, and let me handle it."

"But, Axel…" Terra protested weakly. "What will happen to you…what if he defeats you?"

Axel grinned. "Then the trick is to _not_ get defeated." He stood up. "And he should be feeling some hurt now. Everyone knows you don't use a concussive weapon at close range…but Avak's too trigger happy to know this."

Avak emerged from the green smoke, coughing. "That…sucked," he said. Then he turned back to Ray. "I should've known better than to use my Zamors at point blank…I'm gonna take my anger out on you!" With that, his eyes flashed, and he began blasting eye laser after eye laser at Ray.

Ray grinned. "By using lasers on me, you made the _worst_ mistake ever. Don't use my own element on me!"

Ray's hands whipped out, and the lasers bent in midair, crashing back into the one who had sent them!

"Augh!" Avak shouted, his Zamor Launcher going flying out of his hand. Aeron caught it and began firing Zamor Spheres and Meteors at Avak. Avak stared. "Wuh-oh," he said. He sang the Game Over theme from the games based on my adventures before they hit.

**KRAKKA-KRAKKA-KA-BOOM!**

When the smoke cleared, random pieces of Avak's armor fell to the ground. And a Star floated down, too!

"Yes! We got a Star!" I shouted.

"And now I have his head! =D" Ray said, picking it up. He shook it around, causing it to chomp. Ray apparently thought it was pretty funny.

"Or do you?"

**RANDOM ENCOUNTER!**

"Wait, wha-" Ray began.

Suddenly, a massive red and silver and black and whatever spider dropped down, causing a seismic wave. Ray was sent flying backwards, and Avak's head flew out of his hand. Into the hands of a silver/black armored guy with teeth and glowing red eyes, and also a staff.

"Who are you?" Ray asked. "That head is mine! Give it to me!"

"Hahahahaha!" the silver guy shouted in a squeaky voice. "No, it belongs to me, Vezon, now! And it's-"

"In the hands of someone with a really high pitched voice," Aeron muttered.

"SHUT UP! THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH A HIGH PITCHED VOICE!" Vezon shouted. "Anyways, you won't be getting it back! And I'm gonna destroy you for no apparent reason other than my feeling like it!"

"Who sends these idiots against us?" Axel groaned.

* * *

**Mini Boss: Vezon**

"Come on, Fenrahk! Get 'em!" Vezon shouted, tugging a chain. The spider he was on roared, and jumped forward to try and crush us with his massive legs.

"Whoa!" Ray shouted, jumping back. "This guy's like a boss!"

"Actually, he's a mini boss," Axel said. "See that sign that says 'Mini Boss' up there?"

"Wow, way to break the fourth wall, Axel," I said.

"SHUT UP. I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT," Axel said.

"T_T…" I sighed. "So…how do we AAAAAH HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT!" Fenrahk was blasting flames at us, and they were intensely…hot.

Aeron swung his sword, discharging cold into the flames and freezing them solid. "Sorry, I can't understand. What was that, Mario?"

"T_T…" I sighed and tossed my hammer to Aeron. Or tried to. It ended up thwacking Aeron in the head.

"OW." Aeron rubbed his head and then picked up the hammer. And appeared to want to hit me with it. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING, MARIO?"

I suddenly realized I had no hammer myself now, and grabbed Luigi's from him. (He was still on the ground.) "All right, Aeron, I'm gonna need your help," I said, holding up the Falling Star.

Aeron understood at once. "Let's do it!" he said, hefting the hammer.

I tossed the Falling Star into the air, and golden stars scattered on the ground around us. The Falling Star became a bright green and gold, and Aeron began to whack stars at it, infusing them with his own energy. Then it became red, and I began throwing stars at it myself.

Vezon was watching, growing suspicious. Then he said: "I don't know _what_ you're doing, but I won't let it continue!" And he swung his staff sending many orange spheres flying at us.

"OH CRAP!" I shouted.

Axel jumped into the air and slashed quickly, slicing the orange spheres to pieces. "Vezon, you'll definitely have to do better than that if you want to beat us," he said. Then he ran towards Fenrahk and suddenly appeared behind him.

"What the-?" Vezon shouted. Fenrahk roared in surprise.

Axel smirked. "Way too late, Vezon. You've been pierced."

Vezon's eyes widened. And then his armor suddenly received a massive gap in it.

Axel watched him stagger, and dispelled energy around his middle and index fingers. "Sheesh...it takes so much energy to maintain such an attack! But…using _Ketatamashi Getsu_ as a cutting move…that was pretty cool."

"Well, this _won't_ be cool!" Vezon shouted, yanking the chain. Fenrahk charged, and Axel jumped away.

"This last one should do it!" I shouted, smashing one last star at the Falling Star. It went high into the air…

"Take this!" Vezon shouted, and Fenrahk breathed fire at Axel. Axel suddenly faded and appeared somewhere else. Vezon sent orange spheres flying at him, shouting "STOP RUNNING!"

That's when they heard the whistling. That which whistled through the air, falling, getting closer…

"Uh oh," Axel said. "Um…bye."

_He gone!_

"What? Where are you going?" Vezon shouted. That's when he noticed the whistling was louder. And he looked up…to see something flaming coming down. "HOLY S-"

**KABOOM!**

When the smoke cleared, Vezon and Fenrahk were gone. But there was a big hole in the ground…

"Darn! He retreated!" Ray shouted. "Oh well, at least we fended him off."

"Well YOU did NOTHING," Aeron said.

"But Luigi didn't either!" Ray protested.

"That's because he's unconscious," Aeron said.

"Okay, but what about Terra? She did nothing but sit over there!" Terra looked down at ground when Ray made this remark.

"Well she's injured," Axel said. "Badly. So of course she couldn't do anything. But YOU have no excuse."

"(explicative removed)!" Ray shouted.

"If you're finished," I said. "Then we'd better get the Star so we can get back to Starship Mario and heal Terra and Luigi."

"I got his head! =D" Ray shouted.

**WE GOT A STAR!**


	16. The Clash of Light and Shadow

**What the heck was wrong with us?**

**How did we not notice we got a hitchhiker on us when we came back to Starship Mario?**

**And how did we not notice him if he was our mortal enemy...sort of?**

* * *

**Traveler's Log Entry 013: The Clash of Light and Shadow**

**Stars: 12**

**Ray**

* * *

Wow…it's been a really short time since my previous log entry, hasn't it? Well I was asked to write it this time, so yeah. I forget why.

WELL ANYWAY. This is the first time I met Shade. And it didn't go too well, since now Starship Mario is pretty beat up…and _I_ have to clean it up. T_T

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention what I look like, right? Sorry, I don't remember those things well, because I have more important stuff to worry about. =D

Anyways, here's the deal: I have red-brown hair that's sort of spiky, like Pit from _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_ (who is awesome). My eyes are sky blue, and I'm REALLY tall (how the heck are Axel and Aeron even taller?)

Usually, I wear a black jacket (which, by the way, I like to keep unzipped) with silver highlights and many rainbow-colored lines radiating out on the back (the symbol for light), a white T-shirt, and winter camo pants. And black sneakers, which are pwnsome for running with.

So, back to the important stuff…we were returning from Over Building Galaxy to return to Starship Mario. Terra was piggyback riding me due to being injured, but the look on her face was rather…troubling.

"Is something wrong, Terra?" I asked, noticing something was wrong myself. There was a strange presence nearby…but where?

"What? Um…" Terra blushed and looked away. "Actually, yeah…something is wrong. I feel like someone is around here…and shouldn't be."

"But we're flying through space!" I said. "That's the thing I don't get. Even though I can feel it myself, where is there to hide?"

"I don't know…" Terra said. "It just feels kind of strange…"

"Don't downplay your instincts," Aeron said. "They _may_ be right."

"You said _may_," Axel said. "So…maybe it's wrong. Who knows?"

"Oh yeah," Aeron said, scratching the back of his head. "But, I think it'll all be right when we get back to Starship Mario."

I wish it was true, what Aeron said. It wouldn't be.

* * *

"Will there _ever_ be a day when you guys _don't_ come back injured badly?" Lubba asked, looking at Terra's shoulder.

Terra laughed nervously as Lumas surrounded her, using their energy to heal her. "Ah, _Sumimasen_, Lubba…I'm just not good at avoiding danger, I think…"

"And Aeron and I are terrible at it…and we have been for all of our lives," Axel laughed. "Too bad, Lubba."

Lubba sighed. "Well, let's get that Star energy transferred to the Starship so-"

"_This_ Star?"

Everyone else stopped short. I stared at them uncertainly. "Um…guys? What's gotten into you?"

"That voice…that reiatsu…" Axel said tensely, his hand going to his sword. "It can only be _him_."

"But how?" Mario shouted. "How did he get onto Starship Mario? There was no place to hide on the way here!"

"The Shadows," Aeron said. "He used the Shadows to cloak himself so we couldn't see him. Which means…"

"He can take the Star from us anywhere," Terra said. "Isn't that what you've proven…Shade?"

_Shade?_ I thought. _Where have I heard that name before? It sounds familiar, but…that's it! Terra's story! She mentioned a guy by the name of Shade who just totally threw the morale out of them! Is this the guy?_

"…yeah, pretty much. And I took the Star, by the way."

We immediately realized something. The Star was totally gone.

"What?" Aeron shouted. "It was right next to me…how did he slip through my awareness?"

"The Shadows can hide many things, Aeron Solo," the guy's voice came again.

"WHO THE HECK ARE YOU?" I shouted, blasting a laser in the direction of the voice.

**ZOW!**

"OW!" a guy shouted, spilling out of some cloak of shadow. The disturbing thing was that he looked a lot like Mario except for color.

"…I said, who the heck are you?" I said. Light gathered at my hand, and I got ready to blast him again.

"By the looks of it," the guy said, getting up. "Your opposite." And then a sphere of shadow flew from his hand, dispelling the light at my hand. "I'm Shade, the manipulator of Shadow. Got it?"

"Well, then I gotta blow you up!" I said. "Cause I'm Ray! And I…" I stopped. "Darn it, what should I say next?"

"FAAAAAIIIIL," Axel and Aeron said loudly. And in unison.

"SHUT THE (explicative removed) UP GOD (explicative removed) IT!" I shouted. "WHATEVER! YOU'RE GOING TO GET OWNED, SHADE! PREPARE FOR OWNAGE!"

* * *

**Boss: Shade**

"I'm surprised you guys got a new member," Shade said. "But you guys should have just gone home when you got the chance! 'Cause now-"

"Shade, we _don't_ know the way home," Mario said. "In fact, we don't know where we are in the universe at this point."

"Whatever," Shade said. "Anyways I'm going to own you now."

"No, we're going to own _you_," Axel said.

…

"…so I can FIRE MY LAZOR BLAAAAAARRRGGHH!" Axel shouted.

We all were blackened again. "Cough…"

"Sorry, some energy is still left from the almonds," Axel said.

"Guys, leave this to me," I said. "I'll show this guy a thing or two!"

"Oh yeah, well I'll show you a thing or _three_!" Shade shouted, running towards me. Light spiraled into my hands, and shadow into his. He punched, but I dodged and then struck out at him. Shade ducked and tried to deal an uppercut to me. I hurled myself sideways and flipped over in midair, springing off the chimney back at him.

"You're a real pain," Shade said. He held out his hand, and the shadow began to flare out. "_This_ will put you in your place!"

"Right back at 'ya!" I shouted, blasting the light from my own hand. The two blasts clashed, creating a massive explosion.

I threw myself into the smoke, kicking hard at whatever was in there…and blowing the smoke away in the process…or most of it.

**WHACK!**

"HA! Take that you fool!" I shouted, grinning.

"Ugh…what did you do that for, idiot?" I suddenly heard. And then I realized…I hit Aeron.

"Um…whoops…" I said, sweatdropping.

"WHO WERE YOU AIMING AT, GOD DANG IT?" Aeron shouted, punching me across Starship Mario. I flew a _long_ way away…and ended up crashing into one of the ears.

**WHAM!**

"Ow…" I began to get back up…and then saw an arcing bolt of shadow beginning to follow. "Whoa!" I jumped away as the bolt exploded against the ear and Lumas fled the scene, screaming.

"Is this the best you can do?" Shade asked, walking towards me and blasting bolt after bolt of dark energy. "Sheesh, I can't believe I was actually worried about a guy who controls light! You're one of the worst fighters I've ever seen!"

"_Now_ you've done it!" I shouted. "Take _this_!" I ran towards him…oh yeah, and might I add that I can run _really_ fast. And within a second I was in range to sock him in the face!

"What the-" Shade began.

"TAKE THIS, FOOL!" I shouted, smashing my fist into his face hard.

**KA-POWIE!**

"Yeah! How's that for one of the worst fighters you've ever seen?" I shouted, getting egotistical.

"…okay, correction," Shade said. And then suddenly, his hand flew up to my arm. "You're _mediocre_."

"That's not much better," I said. "Hey, why are you holding onto me? GET OFF!" I punched him hard.

But he held on. "Take this one, and I'll call you average." And then black energy flew from his hand. I realized what he was going to do, and barely had time to counteract. White flowed across my arm, and the two forces of energy met, exploding violently out. We both were sent flying by it…as well as some Lumas.

"What the heck was that?" I wondered, getting up.

"Shadow and Light are opposites," Aeron said. "So…expect very violent meetings. That's the only thing I can say."

"Whatever," I said. "TAKE THIS YOU (explicative removed)!" And then my foot met Shade's face. =D

"OOF!" Shade shouted. "Sheesh…" He held up his hand, and my shadow began to seem more prominent… "See how you do against this, Ray!" His foot crashed against it hard.

Or rather, where it used to be. I suddenly made another light source next to me, and the shadow angled about 45 degrees to the right.

"Oh, not bad. But seriously, who taught you to fight?" Shade asked, sending a punch at my face.

"No one!" I shouted, dodging. "I taught myself!" And I punctuated this with an elbow strike…dang, he blocked it. I whipped around and attacked with the _other _elbow, but he ducked. Then he sent a kick, and actually _hit_ me in the stomach (GACK! HE GOT ONE IN!), but it kind of backfired because I went flying into him.

"Okay, what am I now?" I asked, trying to slug him.

"In all honesty, you're quite impressive," Shade replied. "But…not good enough." And then his foot came down towards my shadow again.

_What the heck?_ I thought. _What's all this about my shadow anyway?_ And it came too late to me. _OH CRAP!_

**WHAM!**

I fell almost as if he had hit _me_. And the pain felt real, too.

"See what I mean?" Shade asked, advancing. "I'm obviously better."

"Right, right, understood," I said, getting up. Shade's foot came down again, but…it never hit the shadow.

Instead, _I_ hit _him_. Using my head. =D And sent him smashing through some garden lattice thing…

"Whoops," I said. "Oh well. I BLOW YOU UP NOW!" And I smashed my foot into his head, defeating him! No wait, that last part came later.

"OW." Shade went smashing into the ground, but got back up and did a jump sidekick or whatever. I dodged it again and then blasted a laser at him, but he dodged it and struck back with a blast of shadow.

"This is getting repetitive," I said. "We just send each other flying with a punch or a kick or a laser or whatever only for the other to get back up. Doesn't that seem a bit old now?"

"Good point," Shade said. "Oh well. That just means I should end this quickly with a…"

"A what?" I asked, blasting the shadow that was going to his hand with light so it dispelled.

"Oh, never mind," Shade said. "You're not worth it." He just allowed his own shadow to begin to elongate…

I held out my hand and created a ball of light, causing the shadow to spin away. "I'm not worth what?" I asked. "Well, whatever. I'll just have to finish you now with…" I allowed light to accumulate at my hand, forming a white falcon around my fist. "FALCON…"

Shade's eyes widened, then he narrowed them again. "So that's the game you want to play, eh, Light?" he said, raising his own fist. And it began to accumulate black power, appearing in the form of a falcon. "Then I'll play with you."

"What?" I shouted. "You can use it? No wait, that's different…"

"We both can use it," Shade said. "But with our respective elements! Now prepare yourself! FALCON…"

"FALCON!" I shouted, jumping at him and drawing my fist back.

"PU-"

**KA-BOOOOOOM!**

Light and Shadow exploded in all directions. And when it was over, Shade and I both lay on the ground, totally fried from the explosion.

"Cough…" I said. "Well that sucked." I shook, sending all the soot flying. But that caused everything else to be gray.

Shade did the same. "Okay, I am _not_ doing that again. But now I will destroy you with the power of…" And he held up two LEGO bricks.

"Uh…very interesting," I said. "You're going to destroy me with the power of…two LEGO bricks. I'm very scared. Wait, what the heck?"

Shade began throwing random LEGO bricks together, forming giant legs…

"_Nani osteiru_-no, I mean, what are you doing?"Terra asked, fully healed and running over.

"Ray, what's happening?" Mario shouted, a beat after her.

"Yahoo! It's-a Luigi Time!" Luigi shouted, also fully healed and a beat after Mario. And received a smack to the face from said person. "OW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"

"That's _my_ line!" Mario said, annoyed. "And only _I_ am awesome enough to use it!"

"Shut up!" Luigi said. "I can use it whenever I want!"

"And _I_ can do whatever I want so I can FIRE MAH LAZOR BLAAAARRGGHH!" Axel shouted.

We all got fried again. "Cough…" Aeron said. "You launched it twice in one chapter, Axel. Do you need to do that?"

"Yes," Axel said. "So I can…"

"GET LOST FOOL!" Aeron shouted, punching Axel into a wall.

"So, the reinforcements _finally_ arrive, huh?" Shade said. "Well you're too late. Because now-!" He thrust his hand into the air at his creation, a massive robot with jets on its legs, four wings with missile racks underneath them, a laser cannon on one arm, and a flamethrower on the other. "You will now fall to my creation: …"

There was uitter silence. And then Shade sighed, muttering: "I didn't name it."

"FAAAAAAIIL," Axel, Aeron, Mario, Luigi and I all said in unison.

"SHUT UP!" Shade shouted. He raised the remote. "And now, prepare to meet your doom!" He pushed the button, not noticing me waving my hand…

And nothing happened.

"What?" Shade shouted. "What's going on?" He began pushing the button many times in succession, trying to make it work. And it didn't. "Work, god dang it! WORK!" Shade shouted, throwing the remote onto the ground and stomping on it continuously.

"What's going on?" Terra asked, bewildered by the scene.

I grinned. "Not all light's visible," I told her. "And I can control _all_ forms of it."

"Radio waves, right?" Aeron said. "You're creating radio waves to confuse the robot, or just screwing around with the waves that Shade's sending."

"Yep," I said. "I'm so awesome, aren't I?"

"Right, right, understood," Axel said. Mario and Luigi didn't seem to agree, either.

"Come _on_, guys," I complained. "It's pretty cool, isn't it?"

"Well, it _is_ entertaining," Aeron said, his eyes on Shade, who was still stomping on the remote. "Hey, you know, doing that will just break the remote."

"SHUT UP! I KNOW THIS THING WILL WORK IF I KEEP SHOWING IT WHO'S BOSS!" Shade shouted, ramming his head into the remote.

"Okay, I'm done now," I said, allowing the waves to reach the robot. But…I was still fooling around as the robot's eyes flashed bright red, showing his activation. He whirled, looking for a target.

"Finally!" Shade shouted. "Now-" He stopped midsentence. "What the frickin' heck?"

The robot started doing some random dance and playing horrible music, and those two _definitely_ didn't go together.

"Wh-what are you doing, you fool?" Shade shouted. "Get them! Destroy them!"

He was ignored by the still doing a funky dance robot. Eventually, we got sick of it, and Aeron opted to blow it up. We all agreed eventually.

Then things went totally wrong. Shade began stomping on the remote again, and then he crushed it. And then the robot's eyes suddenly flashed, and it began marching towards Shade.

"Finally!" Shade shouted. "Now go and destroy them, you-"

**BAM!**

"WAAAAAAH~" Shade shouted, flying far away. The robot had punched _its own creator_.

"_Nani_…?" Terra wondered as the robot started running around terrorizing random Lumas.

"I think something went wacko," Mario said.

"Uh-huh." "Definitely." Those came from Axel and Aeron. But then suddenly they realized something. "WAIT…WE ACTUALLY AGREED ON SOMETHING? AAAAAAAAAA~"

Mario stuck two flagpoles in the ground and stepped away. The two ran around in totally random paths, and Axel smashed hard into the pole. Aeron missed entirely and crashed into the wall, getting stuck in it.

"Doh, Aeron missed," Mario said. "Oh well. Now let's get ready to blow this thing to pieces!" He hefted his hammer and charged. "Get ready to get disassembled, dude!"

"Let's knock his block off!" I shouted, calling forth light. Terra held out her hand, and emeralds crystallized around her fingers, although her expression didn't seem very confident. "Hey, let's call him Block Dude 'cause he's a dude and made out of blocks."

"Everything is becoming really random," Luigi muttered, following his brother.

* * *

**Boss: Block Dude**

Block Dude began blasting away with his laser cannon, but I refracted the light, causing it to crash back into him. Not that it did much. "What the heck is his armor made of?" I shouted.

"Must be a very hard material," Mario said. "Let's see how it holds up to a Mighty Meteor!" And he pulled out a reddish rock with a question mark on it O_o "Ready, Luigi?"

"Ready when you are!" Luigi shouted, hefting his hammer. "Throw it!"

Mario tossed it up, and drew back his hammer. He smashed the Meteor hard, sending it flying upwards towards Block Dude's head, spinning it around but doing very little damage.

"Doh, crap!" Mario shouted. "What's in that armor?" I was annoyed he said something very much like what I said a couple moments ago.

"I guess LEGO bricks are harder than we thought," Luigi said, backing up. He smashed the meteor with his own attack, sending it flying back up to smack him in the face again.

"That attack's not very 'mighty', if you ask me," I said, blasting the robot with a light beam. "But how do we defeat this guy?"

"How do you defeat LEGOs?" Terra asked, jumping over a shot from the beam cannon. "What do you do, Ray?"

"I don't know!" I shouted, running to avoid a stream of fire. "All I can say is that you don't want to get hit!"

"Maybe we should try to take it apart, like Mario said earlier," Terra suggested. She bolted away to avoid several missiles.

"But how?" I asked. "Do you know what keeps LEGO bricks together?"

"No," Mario replied, whacking the meteor again. "There's no cement required…right?"

"There is," I replied, dodging another missile barrage. "Imagination. That's the second thing that is needed for LEGO creations!"

"Imagination?" Luigi shouted, whacking the meteor for a second time. "Why's that needed?"

"Because that's what creates LEGOs in the first place!" I shouted. "So what do we do?"

"We hit it again. And again. And again. And again until it blows up. Great plan, right?" Mario asked, sending the meteor back at Block Dude.

…

"No," we all said.

"What?" Mario shouted, whacking the meteor (it had come back to him). "But it's a good plan!"

"Mario, this guy will take over 9000 hits to destroy if the Mighty Meteor does barely anything," Luigi said, hitting the meteor a third time.

"Dang!" Mario shouted, getting ready to hit the meteor but not getting it (it went towards Luigi).

Terra sent an earthquake at the robot, but it responded by jumping and FLYING. She caused the earth underneath him to spike up instead. But the robot just flew out of the way.

Luigi held up a red, yellow, and white flower. Weirdly, it was oval shaped. "It seems we'll have to do things the old fashioned way!"

The flower turned upwards towards the sun, and white spores drifted out on the wind. Some of the spores landed on Luigi, and his outfit suddenly changed, with his shirt and hat turning white and his overalls green.

"What in-?" I shouted.

"Fire Luigi!" Luigi shouted. "Let's do this!" He thrust out his hand, and a red ball of flame appeared, shooting out and bouncing across the ground. The robot dodged, but Luigi followed with several fireballs, forcing him to wildly fly around to dodge.

"It must be now!" Luigi shouted. "Mario, the other one!"

"Right!" Mario shouted. He held up his own flower, but this one was varying shades of blue and white. The flower turned upwards as well, and blue spores floated out, covering Mario and turning his overalls red and his hat and shirt blue.

"Ice Mario!" Mario shouted. "Time for this guy to chill out!" Blue gathered at his hands, and he fired a ball of icy energy. It soared towards Block Dude, but he dodged those too. However, a stream of fire and ice caused him to have to run in random directions, even more frantically now that two people were attacking.

Terra closed her eyes, and then emeralds crystallized in the air. Then her eyes were open, and she thrust out her hand, causing emeralds to fly at Block Dude. A third attacker, upping the ante further.

I began to allow light to flow to my hands. Then I blasted laser after laser, causing Block Dude to have to dodge attacks from four different attackers. And one was fated to get in. Well, not one.

From different angles, an emerald, a fireball, an ice blast, and a laser struck him dead on. Block Dude fell, burned, frozen, quaking from a, er, quake, and with several bricks sheared off from the laser.

"Now's our chance!" Mario shouted. "Get ready for disassembly!"

We all ran towards him, but then he got back up and flew away again. However, he wasn't flying as well.

"There's got to be a way to get him to stop moving," Terra said.

"And there is," I said, holding up two LEGO whips. "Guys, you ready?"

"I refuse to speak to you for the rest of my life if this fails," Mario replied.

Mario and Luigi took the whips and used them to lash onto Block Dude, and his pulling free caused more bricks to come off. Then I grabbed the bricks and threw them together to form a cannon. "Ready to launch!" I shouted. "FIRE!"

A brick shot out at high velocity, striking him hard. This caused him to fall, and then Terra was above him with an emerald blade.

**SLASH!**

Block Dude fell, more bricks falling. He got back up, shooting fire at us. Mario and Luigi bolted away, the Fire and Ice Flowers' effects having worn off a while ago.

"So do we keep using our elemental energy until he gets destroyed?" Terra asked, avoiding a flame stream.

"Pretty much," I said. "Or can you think of a better plan?"

"…No?" Terra replied, seeming uncertain.

"Exactly," I said. "That proves that this is a good plan."

"No it doesn't," Luigi said, whipping and trying to strike the flamethrower. "That just means it's our ONLY plan."

"And that's what makes it a good one," I shot back confidently.

"T_T…" Mario and Luigi, crying anime tears, pulled out a Fire Flower and allowed the spores to land of them. Then they both were clothed in white and red/green (respectively) and began a fireball barrage. Block Dude avoided most of them.

MOST OF THEM

About 6 or 7 struck dead on, smashing pieces off of Block Dude and causing him to go careening into the wheel area.

"WHOA!" Lubba shouted as the Starship rocked. "This thing isn't made to withstand all this!"

"We have end this quick, before the Starship gets destroyed!" Mario shouted. "Ray, do you have a plan?"

"Finished!" I shouted, revealing something like a LEGOfied fighter jet. It had sleek wings, and a front mounted laser. EMP cannons and missile launchers concealed themselves under the wings. "Let's take to the skies!"

"Be careful, Ray," Terra said quietly. "He's very strong…"

"I am too!" I shouted. "And besides, this thing is fueled with my own power! You don't really believe in my ability, do you?"

Terra said nothing. I sighed and just took to the skies. "Time for epic pwnage!" I shouted, pushing a button. And then a blue laser crashed into Block Dude, sending him spinning. I turned the wheel, flying after him.

Block Dude righted himself and let missiles fly. I spun in a barrel roll, dodging all the missiles. Well, all but one. That one exploded, sending me going out of control. But I righted myself and blasted EMPs at him, causing him to stop working and smash into the ground hard. Terra, Mario and Luigi attacked, smashing him hard and causing bricks to fall away.

Damaged badly, Block Dude dropped his weapons, and his hands went to his neck, and he began walking around, acting like he was dying.

"What the heck is he doing?" Mario wondered as he dropped to his knees, choking (or acting like that).

Block Dude hit the ground, and his right hand went up, reaching up. And then suddenly…he stopped.

"What the-?" Luigi was silenced when Block Dude broadcasted this message: _"THIS ROBOT WILL NOW SELF DESTRUCT."_

"WAAAAH!" Mario shouted. "IT'S GONNA BLOW UP!"

"OH NO!" Terra cried. "WE'LL GET KILLED IN THE EXPLOSION!"

"AAAAAAH PANIC WORRY FEAR DEATH AAAAAA" Luigi shouted, running in circles.

"_But first, a little dance."_

"Wati, WHAT?" we all shouted.

*insert Hamster Dance here randomly changing pitch*

Block Dude began spinning around in circles, waving his arms back and forth in time with the music.

"This is very strange…" Luigi commented.

"This song sucks!" Aeron shouted. "Let's change it! And the dance, too!"

"Wait, you're alright after you ran into the wall?" I shouted.

"Yeah," Aeron said. "That can't kill me."

"Or can it?" Axel asked, having recovered from running into a pole.

"SHUT UP," Aeron said. "Now, let's make this a…"

**TECHNO**

**DANCE**

**PARTY**

Caramelldansen began playing, and Mario and Luigi began breakdancing, Axel did a terrible dance from Bionicle Heroes (google "Piraka Playground"), and that's all I feel like saying.

"Okay, I'm done," Block Dude said, abruptly ending the song.

"Uh oh," Aeron said.

**KA-BOOOOOOM!**

A colossal explosion rocked the Starship. And when it was over, LEGO bricks were everywhere.

"Okay then…" Lubba said. "It's a good thing Shade didn't run off with the Star, because it can repair the damage!" He held it up, and it flashed, causing the Starship's damage to disappear. But the LEGOs remained.

"Well, it's only been 3 days, and we've done a lot, haven't we?" Aeron said.

"Actually, it's May 7th," Lubba said. "You started on April 29th."

"EH!" Terra shouted. "How could so much time have passed between the Star Festival and-"

"Time doesn't flow right between the regions," Lubba explained. "So it may have been fastforwarded while you were traveling between regions-referring to the portal-or went back in time. Either way, until we can reunite the universe with the Grand Stars, it won't flow right."

"Um, I think you guys should know..." Terra said quietly.

"Huh?" we all asked.

"Know what, Terra?" Axel said.

"Today...May 7th..." Terra shifted uncomfortably. "It's...my birthday."

"Oh, really?" Aeron asked. "How old are you now, Terra?"

"I'm 12 now..." Terra said. "But still light and short for my age..."

"Happy Birthday, Terra!" Mario and Luigi shouted.

"Can we celebrate later, though? That was exhausting," I said. "Let's take a nap."

"The sleeping quarters are over there," Terra said, pointing.

"Great, thanks," I said. "Wait, I can actually stay?"

Terra smiled shyly. "_Yokoso Hoshifune Mario ni, Ray."_

"Uh…what?" I asked, not getting it.

Terra looked a bit surprised before remembering. "Sorry. Welcome to Starship Mario, Ray."

"Thanks!" I said. "That's awesome! Now-"

"But first, you have to clean up all the LEGOs," Axel said.

*insert record scratch here*

"WHAT?" I shouted. "NO…"

* * *

Rosalina closed the book. "And that's all I think we can read for today. We're out of time."

Another chorus of _aw_'s. Rosalina smiled. "Don't worry, tomorrow I'll get to a very exciting part. Now, off to bed, all of you."

The Lumas bid her goodnight and left. Rosalina watched them go, then stepped out herself, looking out at the starry sky.

"The Shining Stars…" she said thoughtfully. "Even today, they still glow brightly."

Up in the sky, 10 stars-oddly colored in various colors: red, ocean blue, yellow green, emerald, white, silver, black (outlined with dark gray), cerulean, pale green, pink-twinkled brightly. Rosalina watched them, allowing their soft light to wash over her, and then stepped back towards the bedroom, the light of hope still bathing her.

* * *

**And that's another part of it completed. I'm sorry I was so lazy this April, and I will work faster in May.**

**By the way, May 7th is coming, and so, Happy Birthday, Terra! (It would be nice to celebrate her birthday, but she's fictional, so I can't do anything.)**

**To explain where I got the idea for Ray, he was based off of a character of Jokester94n, a Youtuber, and would look like Mario except black and white instead of red and blue, but then I changed what he would look like. He's still athletic and obsessed with corn, but now has the power of Light.**

**Shade was based on a character from Tomato3456, another Youtuber, but was more sinister and with the power of shadow. But he still fights for evil, and also a plasma screen TV.**

**Well, I hope you enjoyed reading, and PLEASE REVIEW. There is a thing called the anonymous review enabled which, when you click the button below this that says "Review this Chapter", will allow you to leave feedback. Thank you.**


	17. A Little Fun at the Big Top

**Hi everyone! Welcome back!**

**At this point in time, I hope you're enjoying Ray's being around, because he's the funniest character I have. But just so you know, you may not want to stick around too much if you have an idiot allergy. Because everything he does is idiotic.**

**This chapter isn't as long as most of the others, but I hope you'll enjoy it! AND REVIEW!**

* * *

Under a sky full of stars, Rosalina was ready to tell the next part of her story…but at the Gateway to the Starry Sky. She was on the castle like monument, with several towers surrounding. It was a rather quiet place, and she always came here to reflect.

"Mama, is there a reason why you're telling us the story here?" a Luma asked.

"Yes," Rosalina said. "This is where I will tell you the remainder of the Shining Stars' story…where they will shine down on us."

It was then that the Lumas all noted the 10 stars in the sky. They were glowing in different shades from the rest: emerald, white, cerulean, pale green, yellow green, black (outlined with gray), silver, pink, ocean blue, and great crimson. And their brilliance made them the brightest in the sky.

Rosalina smiled. "Before I begin, my children, know this: as long as those ten shine together, there is always a glimmer of hope."

Uttering those words, she opened the book once more.

* * *

**It seems the Cosmos like pulling terrible jokes on us…**

**Like rolling around unbalanced on a glass ball with Star in it. Luigi's done it, and he lived to tell the tale. Don't worry, I'll tell it for him. XD**

* * *

**Traveler's Log 14: A Little (Not) Fun at the Big Top**

**Stars: 13**

**Luigi**

* * *

I HATE MY LIFE. IT HAS ALL BEEN RUINED BY THE EVENTS TODAY.

How does _one_ event cause me to go all "this is just (explicative removed"? Well, while I'm at it, let me ask you this: have you ever tried rolling around on a circus ball?

No? All right then. A circus ball is annoying, because no matter how still you try to stand, if you're even _slightly_ off center, the ball will roll and you'll fall off. Either that, or you have to run on it and risk bumping into something. It's really hard to balance, and that pretty much describes what I went through.

Well, this is how my day began. I woke up and saw everyone sleeping. Terra was rolling around on the bed in her sleep, Mario was snoring loudly, Aeron was staying very still, and Axel was snoring quietly with his headphones on. From faint sounds, I could hear soft, calming music playing in them.

It was then that I noticed something was missing. _Wait, where's Ray?_

I looked around a bit before deciding to check on deck. I stood on the compass rose and allowed it to lift me to the deck. Lubba was still sleeping.

"Ray?" I asked, careful to keep my voice down so I wouldn't wake up Aeron or Terra. (I wasn't worried about Axel, he had his headphones on. And Mario snores so loud, you could demolish Peach's Castle and he'd sleep through it.)

"Huh?" a loud voice came. "Oh, hey Luigi. What's up?"

I ran over to the nose, where the voice had come from. Ray was there, doing pushups. "Um…what are you doing?" I asked.

"Doing pushups," Ray replied. "It's pretty important to keep fit, and I work out a lot to do that."

"Keeping fit?" I said. "That _is_ pretty important. But if you train so hard you wear yourself out, that isn't good either."

Ray got up. "You're right about that. But I don't rest that much compared to doing fun stuff."

"Well, let's get breakfast," I said. "We'll need all our strength for collecting Stars."

"Got it," Ray said.

…

"Say, what _is_ for breakfast, anyway?" Ray asked.

I smacked myself in the forehead.

* * *

_Later…_

"GET THE (explicative removed) OUT OF HERE GOD (explicative removed) IT!" Axel shouted, slashing at Ben. With his Shikai.

"KYAAAAAAAH~" Ben shouted.

"KYAAAAAAAH~THE WEIRD SILVER ANGEL GUY IS FOAMING AT THE MOUTH!" Pikachu shouted.

"YOU'RE HERE TOO?" Axel shouted, sending a _Getsuga Tensho_ at them. No, two.

**BOOOM!**

"WAAAAAAH~" Ben and Pikachu shouted, flying back to their galaxy.

"Ugh, stupid people," Axel muttered. "That was one heck of a wakeup call."

"Wow, I didn't know those two served as your alarm clock," Terra said.

"That's _not_ what I meant," Axel muttered.

I sighed. While Terra's a likeable girl, she's actually quite dense, which causes her to horribly misinterpret things people say.

"YAWN!" Mario shouted, walking out.

"SHUT UP!" I shouted, kicking him in the face. Why the heck is he so unintelligent?

"OW!" Mario shouted. "WHY YOU-"

Aeron sighed. "They're going at it again…" Based on the things on the plate he had, I'd guess he mysteriously obtained pancakes somewhere.

"Ano…how did you get those?" Terra asked.

"With magic," Aeron said, putting butter on them. "And microwaves."

"Wait, we actually have a microwave?" Axel shouted. "How come no one told me?"

"It wasn't necessary to," Aeron replied. Axel started crying anime tears at this. "Okay, breakfast's ready. Anyone want it?"

* * *

_One breakfast later…_

"That was really good!" Ray declared. "Sheesh, who knew Aeron was such a good cook? This is way better than eating bananas all the time!"

"You eat bananas all the time?" I asked, stuffing another piece of a pancake in my mouth.

"No," Ray replied. "It's just that they're the most common fruit in Over Building Galaxy, and I spent a good 5 months there."

"Where's your home?" Terra asked.

"That's a secret," Ray said. "So, now that we've eaten…let's get going!"

"Where to this time?" Mario asked, walking up to the wheel.

"Well, the next galaxy is called Coasting Carnival Galaxy," Lubba said, awakened by the smell of Aeron making pancakes.

"Oh, a carnival! From that you know it's gotta be good!" Axel said.

"But, um…" Terra looked around. "What if this one isn't? And, um, why is it called _Coasting_ Carnival?"

"We'll just have to find out," I said. "To Infinity and Beyond!"

*insert record scratch here*

"Was that necessary?" Mario asked.

"Wait, why the (explicative removed) did I say that?" I wondered. "Whatever. Let's go!"

* * *

Coasting Carnival Galaxy had a bright blue sky and was high in the clouds. Red and yellow circus tents were everywhere, as well as Ferris wheels, Merry go Rounds, a Tilt-a-Whirl, and random unhealthy foods.

I think my enthusiasm disappeared when we landed and found a brightly colored red and yellow striped platform. And on top of it was an orange glass ball…

"Hey, cool, the Star's right here!" Ray shouted, running over to the ball. Sure enough, the Star, along with some stardust, was trapped inside.

"Now we just have to break it open," Aeron said, drawing his sword. "_Reppuzan_!"

But when the green gales left his blade, the ball was totally intact.

"What? It survived Aeron's _Reppuzan_?" Axel shouted. "There's no way that can be right!"

"I'll do this a different way," Aeron said. "_Sutāsutoraiku Burasuto_ (Starstrike Blast)!"

…

"Aeron, you can only use that move in your _Bankai_," Axel said.

"Whoops," Aeron muttered. "That was embarrassing."

"What's _Bankai_?" Ray asked.

"Something I'll explain later," Axel said. "I guess we can't destroy this thing."

"Oh, no…" I groaned. "Mario, we have a major problem on our hands."

"Wait…" Mario's expression went horrified. "You don't mean this is a Star Ball, do you?"

"I do," I said. "And for those of you who don't know, a Star Ball is a glass ball used to trap a Star, and uses power from it as well as stardust to become impenetrable except for a certain device. We have to roll it into that device."

"Where is it?" Ray asked.

"I'll take the ball there," I said, jumping on. "You guys can go back to Starship Mar-whoa!"

That last part wasn't intentional. I was a bit off center, and then suddenly rolled forward, nearly falling off the platform. Only an emerald barrier from Terra saved me. "Luigi, _daijo ka_ (Are you alright)?" Terra called.

"Yeah, just fine," I said, struggling to keep my balance. "You guys can go rest. I'll handle this-whoa!"

"Are you really sure you can do it?" Ray asked. I nodded. "Okay, we'll leave you here, then."

"We're counting on you, Luigi!" Axel said as they were immersed in pale blue light, and then disappeared.

"Alright," I said. "Now to get rolling, literally!" I began to roll the ball towards the edge of the platform, where rails led off the platform into a tent. The rails took me inside, revealing a long, thin rope. It was stretched between two platforms, meaning…

"No, not a tightrope!" I groaned, but there wasn't a way out. I had to roll onto it, and slowly make my way across. It was really hard because the rope was so thin, and the ball was so big.

_Don't look down,_ I thought, shutting my eyes. _Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down-_

I yelled as suddenly everything was rushing to the ground around me, and I fell down, down, down…

I suddenly found myself in front of the tightrope again. Somehow, there had been a Checkpoint Flag I didn't see.

"Well, that was embarrassing," I muttered. "There's got to be a way to get over…"

I began to roll across the tightrope, trying to maintain my balance. It was really hard, but I just kept moving.

"Come on, come on, you're almost there…" I muttered to myself. I kept rolling, and rolling, and…

Suddenly, arrows whistled through the air. I shouted and nearly lost my balance as an arrow zoomed past my nose. "What? There's a Crossbow Shoot here too?" I shouted.

Koopas were nearby with crossbows. I knew they wouldn't hurt me badly, but…they definitely would knock me to the ground. Who'd want _that_? Knowing there wasn't anything that could be done about it, I just kept steadily rolling, but it was now hard with the Koopas shooting at me. One mistake, and it would all be over.

Suddenly, there I was! At the other platform! "Yes!" I shouted. "WHOA!" I suddenly nearly lost my balance and fell off the ball, but I regained my balance and rolled to the other opening in the tent.

Rails took me along and suddenly deposited me on a Ferris Wheel, lifting me high into the air. Okay, what was I supposed to do now?

"I guess I'll just take a ride on the Ferris Wheel until I can find a way off," I sighed. "…what _is_ the way off, anyway?"

I had my answer soon enough. As my…uh…car brought me to the wheel's bottom, there was a platform leading off. I hopped onto it, and nearly lost my balance (again). But I made it!

If only I remembered the cars on the Ferris Wheel. One smashed into my face, causing me to roll back and nearly fall if I didn't suddenly lean forward and start running like a hamster. _I hate this,_ I thought.

Racing across the platform, I found it leading to a…Merry Go Round?

"They never make my life easy," I muttered. "I guess I'll just get on." So I rolled onto the Merry Go Round, and then…nothing happened.

Except for music playing, and then…finally, it started moving! Except a bunch of Goombas started running around it trying to stampede me. And crushing themselves against the Star Ball. But it wasn't easy to get around.

"This is taking too long," I muttered. "I gotta find a way to get off this thing…"

I rolled around, with Goombas running after me. But no matter where I went, there wasn't an exit!

"Sheesh!" I shouted. "This is so frustrating!" I turned around. "I'm gonna take my anger out on the Goombas!" So I started crushing them-or rather, mowing them down. "DIE DIE DIE!"

_One Goomba Stomping later…_

"Okay, all the Goombas have been killed!" I shouted. "But I'm still angry…"

Suddenly, the Merry Go Round stopped spinning, and there was an exit! "Hey cool!" I shouted, and rolled that way.

I went along some row of pineapples put at random elevations. "What're they for…?" I wondered.

That was answered with many balls being thrown to try and knock the pineapples down. And trying to own me in the process.

"THIS ABSOLUTELY SUCKS! I'M OUTTA HERE!" I shouted. I rolled off as fast as I could, but now it was a pretty uneven road. Random bumps and hills caused the ball to fly into the air and land in…cotton candy?

"What the heck is this?" I wondered. "Whatever. I'm outta here, too!" I rolled out and found myself heading down a road with uneven edges, and it was causing me to roll somewhere…

"Whoa! Too fast, too fast!" I shouted, leaning back and nearly falling off. I had no choice but to keep going at that breakneck speed.

I rolled along the road, trying to watch out for the edges. There were no sideguards to this road, so one mistake and it'd be over.

Suddenly, the road narrowed and tilted. The only way for me to get onto that part was if I _increased_ my velocity. I leaned forward and began running as fast as I could, speeding along the narrow part of the road.

"There we go," I sighed in relief. "I shouldn't have anything else to worry about."

I wonder why I always speak too soon?

The road abruptly stopped, and I went flying into the air! There was a platform, but at the edge of it were a bunch of massive cans stacked on top of each other! I was gonna crash!

"CRAAAAAAP!" I shouted, flying towards the cans.

**CRASH!**

The cans went flying, and I landed safely on the platform. It had been a really scary experience.

"I _don't_ want to do that again," I said. Suddenly, I saw a large circular hole and a yellow flag beside it. I smiled. I made it!

I rolled the ball into the hole, and then it vibrated as it went in. Then it exploded, and the Star floated out.

"Yes!" I shouted. "Okay, as soon as I get back to Starship Mario, I am taking a long nap!"

**I GOT A STAR!**


	18. Ray's Home Turf

**Oh yes, it must have been a good time for Ray.**

**All of us had came from the same world-the Mushroom World, as Mario called it-until Ray arrived. He was something of an alien, technically.**

**I guess we should know now that humanity appears in other places…**

* * *

**Traveler's Log Entry 15: Ray's Home Turf**

**Stars: 14**

**Aeron**

* * *

After we returned to Starship Mario, as Luigi promised to take care of Coasting Carnival Galaxy, Mario decided immediately to head to the next galaxy.

"_Demo_ (but)…we're leaving Luigi behind…" Terra protested.

"Terra, you did the exact same thing to us!" I shouted, annoyed.

"Oh, right…" Terra looked down. "_Gomenosai_ (I'm sorry)_…_"

"Don't worry about it, at least it all turned out well," Axel said.

"Corn!" we suddenly heard Ray shout from on top of the chimney. We turned to see him jumping off it.

"Except for finding that guy," Axel said.

**KA-BOOM!**

Axel immediately began pwning him. Mario watched them for a bit, then turned back to the wheel. "Come on, Luigi can catch up," he said.

"Yeah, Axel and I made it back, even when SOMEONE (I glared at Terra, who shrank back) drove away," I said.

"Then it's settled!" Mario shouted just as Terra opened her mouth. "Let's-a go!" Terra cried anime style tears for a bit.

The engines flared to life, and we drove off to the next galaxy. "What do you think is gonna be in the next galaxy, anyway?" I asked.

"Bad things, probably," Mario said. Terra nodded.

Then I remembered something I had to do. "Be right back, guys," I said. "Gonna go get something to eat."

"You have fun with that," Mario said. "Hey, bring me cake if you find it. Because awesome people eat cake."

"_Ano_…didn't we just eat breakfast?" Terra asked as I walked off.

Shortly after I walked into the living quarters, a swirling sphere of energy suddenly appeared in front of me.

"You're late!" Rinna shouted as she jumped out of a rift.

"I can take as much time as I want, Rinna," I said. "So…do you need an update on what's been happening here?"

"If it explains what took you so long, sure," Rinna replied.

"Alright…" I told her what happened after she helped us out in the Robot Reactor.

"So, you're trying to save the universe from some dragon in a turtle shell. That makes sense," Rinna said.

…

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FRICKIN' MIND?" Rinna hollered, flipping a table over.

"WHOA!" I shouted, jumping away as the table shattered into several tiny pieces. "What, you don't believe me? Well, what about the time where some ridiculously oversized Jigglypuff tried to take over Johto?"

"That's different! It was in my world, so-" Rinna began.

…

"Doh, I hate it when he's right," Rinna sighed.

"I'm always right," I said. "By the way, Rinna. You used a MG42 when you helped me out fighting those robots. What happened to _Eis Feuer _(Ice Fire in German)?"

"Um. About that…" Rinna looked away sheepishly. "I broke it."

"WHAT?" I shouted. "There's no way that can be right!"

"Well, you see," Rinna said. "There's this new kind of Neuroi-a Capital type-that can create Medium type Neuroi and below. Its armor is way too strong, so I swung _Eis Feuer_ in conjunction with Burn Bullet. But I did it way too hard, and…"

"Given you have far too much power at your disposal, you probably should be careful using it," I said. "How bad is the damage?"

Rinna held up a sheathed weapon and took it out of her scabberd. She held it up, saying: "The blade's cracked or something."

But it wasn't a sword. Completely black all over, it had a double edged, wickedly sharp blade, yet a guard was absent, and in the hilt's place was a revolver minus the barrel. The handle was lengthened and angled backwards, allowing for the user to _wield_ it like a sword.

I held out my hand and ran it along the flat of the blade. A gunsword fashioned out of mysterious metals, granting it the elemental powers of fire and ice. The bullets it shot were infused with those powers, causing freezing or burning at the user's will. It fired farther and faster than any other gun.

This was _Eis Feuer_, my own creation and gift for Rinna.

"So, it's cracked," I said, noting a spiderweb of cracks running out from a notch in the blade, exposing fiery red and icy blue metal. "Don't really know your own strength, eh?"

Rinna blushed. "Um…guess not. So…I was wondering if you could repair it? 'Cause, I don't really know how to."

I sighed. The metal that forged the blade was hard to come by. It was an ethereal substance that fell in meteors. So I'd have to search for the right kind of metal in different meteors to restore the blade's abilities. On top of that, I would need to find another kind to make the blade more durable.

"It'll be hard," I said. "But I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks, Aeron, I knew I could count on you," Rinna smiled.

**ALERT! ALERT! ALERT!**

"Uh oh," Rinna said. "I gotta go! A Neuroi's attacking!" She ran back to the rift.

"Will you be able to hold your ground now, without this?" I asked.

"Hey!" Rinna shouted. "I've got the Buster Sword! I _can_ hold my own! What kinda weakling do you take me for?"

"Oh, right, I forgot," I said, scratching the back of my head. "Well, good luck, Rinna."

"You too!" Rinna shouted. "And tell Axel I said hi!" She jumped in, and the rift disappeared.

I watched it disappear and sighed. _Is it really gonna be that easy to get this thing fixed?_

"Hey! So this is where you went!"

I turned and saw Axel walking in. "Oh, it's you. Are you finished with destroying Ray?"

"Pretty much," Axel said. "Forgot Rinna wanted to talk at this time. Did she drop by?"

"Yeah, she just left," I said. "And she said hi. By the way, we have a problem." I showed him _Eis Feuer_ and explained what happened.

"So, she broke it," Axel said. "But we're in space, right? So meteors shouldn't be too hard to come by."

"You're probably right about that," I said. "But then there's finding the right kind of metal, and all meteors are different. Finding the right metal will be hard."

"WE'RE HERE!" we suddenly heard Mario announce. Axel quickly grabbed onto a bedpost.

The Starship stopped abruptly, flinging us forward. Axel wasn't hurt too badly because he hung onto something…I got hurled into the wall.

"Ow," I said, getting up. "Will Mario ever learn how to park properly?"

"We may never know," Axel said, letting go of the bedpost. "Let's go. I wonder where we are now?"

Ray was miraculously still intact when we went to the deck. Of course, then we have Axel deciding to finish what he started…

"I DESTROY YOU! FOR GOOD!" Axel shouted, running at Ray with a 500 ton hammer.

"Amateur," I muttered. "Alright, where are we?" I looked at the holomap, but Mario pressed the button, willing it away and pulling up the Launch Star.

"_Ano_, we're in the-" Terra began.

"IT'S OVER 9000!" Ben shouted, crushing some eyepiece.

"I KILL YOU TOO!" Axel shouted, running at him, still with the 500 ton hammer. Ray was forgotten at this point.

"I use my portal gun which I mysteriously appear to have gotten at this time!" Ben shouted, whipping out a gun.

"I KILL YOU BEFORE YOU CAN USE IT!" Axel shouted.

Ben quickly shot a blast out, creating a blue circle underneath Axel, and an orange one 500 km above, on some space rock.

"OH SH-" Axel fell into the portal underneath him. Then he came out of the orange circle. "WAAAAAH!"

Ben pulled out a device, and then a blue light ran from the space rock to the Starship, pulling Axel back towards it at high speed. Then Ben planted a flagpole in the blue light, directly underneath Axel and walked away.

**WHANG!**

Axel landed…well you don't want to know.

"Okay, I'm done. Bye," Ben said, stepping back. "And by the way, you owe me a dime." He blasted a blue portal and stepped backwards into it.

_Trip._

"AAAAAAAAAAH!" Ben shouted, falling backwards as the portal closed.

"Um…fail?" Mario said. A portal suddenly appeared behind him, and Ben's hand reached out, pulling him in. "WAAAAAAH!"

*insert beatdown sounds here*

Then Mario suddenly tumbled out of the portal. "WAAAAAAH HUAL!"

"Are you alright…?" Ray asked.

"YOU'RE STILL ALIVE! I KILL YOU NOW!" Axel shouted, making a fast recovery and attacking Ray.

**SMACK!**

I looked at Mario. "WHOA, WHAT THE (explicative removed) HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE?"

Mario had two black eyes and a bloody nose. And I saw on his back a sign that said: "YOU OWE ME A DIME!"

"Oh, we got into a fight," Mario said. "And I beat him up. Actually, we beat each _other_ up."

Ben suddenly appeared out of his portal. "HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! If only Sam could see me now, because now I'm a true hero!"

"DUDE. ONE, I HEARD THAT," Sam said, coming out of the portal. "TWO, IT'S 'REAL HERO'. THREE, YOU SUCK."

"YOU'RE HERE TOO?" Axel shouted, slamming both of them through the portal and following up with a _Getsuga Tensho_. "Stupid," Axel muttered. "Alright, where are we?"

"We're in the Speed Star World," Mario said. "It apparently has jungles and waterfalls and some corn fields…"

"Wait, Speed Star World? Cool!" Ray shouted. "That's my home!"

"You come from this galaxy?" Terra asked.

"Yeah!" Ray shouted. "It's an _awesome_ place! There're waterfalls, canyons, corn-"

"Did you have to bring up corn?" I interrupted. God, he was obsessed.

"Yes," Ray said, and then went on, ignoring me doing anime style tears. "And there are dinosaurs called Yoshis in there!"

"Yoshis live there?" Mario asked.

"Yeah!" Ray said. "Come on, let's go!"

* * *

Terra stared in amazement at the world around us. We were in a lush green jungle, spanning above us, carpeting the ground beneath, surrounding us, it was like a hall of green. A river splashed through the area, and all around, the jungle seemed _alive_. "_S-sugoi…!_" she cried.

"Not really," I grumbled, swatting at a bug on my neck. "Jungles aren't all that great, you know."

"Just you wait!" Ray shouted. "You haven't seen the best stuff yet!" He pushed through the green curtains of ferns, nearly disappearing.

"RAY?" Mario shouted. "CRAP! RAY'S BEEN EATEN BY A VENUS FLY TRAP!"

"DUDE!" Ray shouted. "I'M ALRIGHT! COME THIS WAY!" He blasted a beam of light into the air to mark his position.

"It's so annoying moving through all this," Mario growled, trying to push through the vines.

"What are you talking about?" Axel called in a breezy tone from up above. "It's not that bad." With that, he leaped from a tree branch that he had been standing on, bounded off another tree, grabbed another branch, spun around it several times to build momentum, and then launched off to grab a vine. "W00T!"

"Suddenly you're a vine-swinger?" I asked, following his lead and swinging from a vine to another tree.

"What?" Axel asked. "It's an easy way to get around here. Oh dear, we left Ray behind."

I turned. Ray's signal light was behind us, moving in another direction. "Darn," I muttered, swinging back towards the light.

Soon, Ray pushed past the last bit of jungle. "Here we are."

"Whoa!" Mario shouted, taking in the scene of a large cliff in front of them…actually, surrounding them in a U. A waterfall cascaded down from above, and the river that we saw earlier turned out to originate from it. Glistening white sand was under our feet, and the trees still stretched out above.

"Finding a Star in a place such as this will be difficult," I commented. "I mean, there's so much area to cover and all…"

"Crap," Mario groaned. "We have to go through _this_?"

"It's not that hard, if you know what to do," Ray said. "By the way, there's a Yoshi here."

We turned to see a nest of sorts. A Yoshi egg sat inside. Ray broke it open with his foot, then jumped onto the Yoshi's back. "Come on, guys!" he shouted.

Terra watched. "_Ano_…how do we…?"

"There are some more Yoshi eggs there," Ray said. "Just grab one and get ready to run."

Soon, Mario had a Yoshi. "Come on, Terra!" he shouted. "Let's-a go!"

Axel and I looked at each other. "I have another idea, how about you?" I asked Axel.

"Definitely," Axel said. So I began to charge up white energy at my hand. It glew brighter, and brighter…

"_Hama Hyoketsu_!" I shouted. And the entire waterfall, river, etc., was frozen.

"WHAT THE (explicative removed)! WHY DID YOU DO THAT YOU (explicative removed)?" Ray shouted, jumping before the water around him froze.

"To make it easier for me to get across," I said, jumping to a part of the ice that jutted out.

"My god," Ray growled. "Well, I guess this is just gonna be harder." He ran over somewhere, and that's when we noticed the red…cone like?...pepper with a rainbowy feather sticking out.

"What the heck is that?" I asked, jumping to another ledge of ice.

"Alright, Yoshi…CHARGE!" Ray shouted. The Yoshi lashed out with his tongue, snatching the pepper and pulling it into his mouth.

"HOLY CRAP A DASH PEPPER LOOK OUT!" Mario shouted.

The Yoshi Ray was on turned red and blasted forward at incredible speed-even breaking the sound barrier! Sound went blasting in all directions…as did flames, not to mention Mario and Terra because they were in the way…as Yoshi ran towards the frozen waterfall.

"Stop!" I shouted. "There's no way you can get up with that thing!"

"Watch me!" Ray shouted. He reached a zone where the ice curved upwards, then started running _up_ it!

"WHAT THE (explicative removed)?" Axel shouted. "Wait, crap! Run for it!"

We jumped away as Ray's Yoshi smashed through a lot of ice that had been jutting out, including the one we'd been on two seconds ago.

"YOU IDIOT!" I shouted as Ray reached the top of the waterfall. "NOW HOW ARE _WE_ GONNA GET ACROSS?"

"By flying?" Ray suggested. "But anyways, see how easy it is to get up?"

"I don't think I can…" Terra said.

"No worries, Terra!" Mario shouted, grabbing the Dash Pepper and causing Yoshi to jet off. "It'll be easy!"

"Jump away," Axel said, and we jumped onto a rocky outcrop as Mario and Terra plowed through the remaining ice platforms.

"Yeah! Easy, right, Terra?" Mario shouted.

"Don't look down, don't look down…" Terra whispered to herself, clinging to Mario for dear life, eyes squeezed shut tightly.

"*Sigh*…now what?" Axel asked. "Should we just use the conventional way of getting up?"

"Yeah," I said. "We should have done that from the start, come to think of it."

"God, this is annoying," Axel complained as we solidified the reishi in the air to create our own platforms.

"Shut up," I said. "It's not my fault you're so lazy you can't even lift a finger."

"Whatever," Axel muttered. "And it's not laziness. It's just that I like to relax and not use too much energy."

"That's being lazy," I said. "But anyway, Ray, where are we going now?"

"My home, duh?" Ray replied. "Come on, we're not that far away."

* * *

We arrived at a level part of the mountain to find a bunch of wooden huts or whatever. With corn fields nearby.

"Guys, I'm back!" Ray shouted, getting off his Yoshi.

"Huh?" Some tall guy with black hair and green eyes poked his head out. "Hey, guys! Look! Ray came back!"

A bunch of other people came out of their huts. "Seriously?" a guy with red hair and black eyes shouted. "He's back?"

"What? Leon, I've only been away for 2 weeks!" Ray shouted, seeming pretty annoyed. "It's not like when I leave, I'll never come back!"

4 people (above mentioned included) ran out, pretty happy to see Ray. "Wait, who are these guys?" Mario asked.

"We're the Sunstrikers!" Ray said. "They're my friends: Leon, Aidan, Ruka (that's Japanese), and Holly!"

"Sunstrikers?" I noted the name. "So you're that group of Light Manipulators who are among the best in the universe?"

"No, we're THE best in the universe," Leon said, thrusting out his chest proudly. "Second to none!"

"Right…" I said sarcastically. Apparently, no one had told them about Archangels, which I will tell you about when I feel like it.

"So, who are the people with you?" Holly asked. (She had wavy brown hair at chin length and violet eyes.)

"WHAT? HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW ME, THE MOST AWESOME PERSON IN THE WORLD?" Mario shouted.

"_You_, the most awesome person in the world?" Ruka asked, (She had TEAL hair, weirdly, down to her shoulders, and gold-gray eyes.) seeming annoyed. "You don't look like you could defeat any of us if we tied both arms behind our backs!"

Axel whacked Mario in the head before he could continue. "Sorry about how he talks. He's mentally insane."

"WHAT? NO I'M NOT!" Mario shouted, whipping out his hammer.

Axel punched the hammer, breaking it. "Anyways, I'm Axel, the red guy's Mario, the girl's Terra, and this guy who looks like me is Aeron."

"Nice to meet you," I said.

"So…how have things been while I was away?" Ray asked.

*insert powering down noise here*

"Uh, did I say something wrong?" Ray asked as everyone got mopey.

"Well, y'see," Ruka said. "Kurt went to the top of the mountain and took the Star."

"Oh, god, no," Ray groaned. "That's what's been making this place so awesome, too…I should have noticed it when I was making my way up!"

"There was a Star at the top of the Mountain?" Mario asked.

"Yeah," Ray said. "And it makes the jungles lush, the water clean, and gives us our light energy when we're born…we have to get the Star back or else all that'll be gone, and the Speed Star World'll just be a normal galaxy, with nothing special to call its own!"

"_This_ Star?" we heard. We turned to see a guy wearing black. He had black eyes, black hair, blah blah. And he didn't look too nice, either.

"Kurt, why'd you do it?" Ray shouted. "You won't gain from it anymore than we will!"

"Really?" Kurt replied. "It'll get me off this Godforsaken world!"

"Who's this?" I asked. "Is he another Sunstriker?"

"By being born here, yeah," Ray said. "But he doesn't really like us, and he's always doing something selfish."

"That's not too great," I said. "Look, you don't have to steal the heart of the Speed Star World to get off."

"Oh yes I do," Kurt said. "From my point of view, the Sunstrikers are just a bunch of idiots who act like there isn't a thing wrong in the world, when they're being selfishly blatant."

"Selfishly blatant?" Aidan asked (guy with red hair). "What makes you think we're that?"

"Well, let's see…you keep planting corn instead of other stuff?" Kurt said. "And that turns you insane and really hyper, usually ending with me getting badly hurt?"

"Oh yeah…" Aidan scratched his head. "Whoops. Heh heh."

"You go hyper and insane if you get corn?" Axel said, narrowing his eyes. "No wonder you shout 'Corn!' so much…"

"Anyways, I'm taking the Star now," Kurt said, turning. "This is what you get for all the bull (explicative removed) you put me through!"

"Hold on just a sec!" Ray shouted, stepping forward.

"What? You can't stop me," Kurt said, revealing a Yoshi he came on.

"Oh, yes I _can_," Ray said. Light began to gather at his hands. "I'll take you on for the Star!"

"Fine," Kurt replied. "How about we race with Yoshis?"

"Sounds fair!" Ray replied. "Let's do it!" He mounted on his Yoshi.

"I'll be the referee," I volunteered. "Well, where're you guys gonna go?"

Kurt outlined the route. "It'll be from here through the forest, then down the hidden path behind the waterfall, and through some treetops. Then we run across the canopy of the jungle, and jump through the Star gate. Oh yes, and several fruits line the way. Think you can handle that, Ray?"

"I can handle _anything_!" Ray shouted. "Let's do this, Kurt!"

* * *

The two were ready to start. "Start on the count of 5," I said. Then I decided to pull a mean prank. "1…2…5!"

"WHAT?" Kurt shouted. Ray sped off immediately, leaving Kurt behind.

"Cheater!" Kurt growled, and he ran after Ray. But Ray was grabbing a Dash Pepper, and then he was off in a blazing red trail.

"You're too slow!" Ray shouted, racing through the forest floor at alarming speed. He was just _blasting_ through the foliage.

"Don't get cocky!" Kurt replied, grabbing his own dash pepper. "That's gonna show how badly I'll beat you!"

"Haha! You're too slo-" Ray suddenly smashed hard into a tree. "OW! #$$#%#$!"

"Idiot," Kurt muttered, running past him. ^&^&&^ ^T"%^&( &^G*?%56i (Sorry, Ben wrote that.)

Ray ran after him. "There's only one thing to do!" He started swinging through the trees using Yoshi's tongue. "George of the Jungle! W00T!"

"WHAT? WHY THE HECK IS HE SWINGING?" Aidan shouted. "'CAUSE THEN-"

"What?" Holly asked. "Should we just say 'Watch out for that tree!'?"

"Yeah, that'll work," I said. "Ray, watch out for that tree!"

"What tree?" Ray asked, swinging ahead of Kurt and not noticing a tree.

**WHAM!**

"OW!" Ray shouted, and he slowly slid down the tree, motionless.

"Dolt," Kurt said, running out of the jungle, down a ledge, and towards what looked like a solid rock face. Nearby, a waterfall cascaded down, blocking view with its mist.

In front of the cliff stood a yellow and gold pear-like fruit, or an upside down lightbulb, if you want. Even the stem was gold. But the strange thing about this was that it seemed to radiate light. And Kurt was hurtling straight at it.

"_Teishi_ (Stop)!" Terra shouted at him. "You're going to run into the cliff!"

"Terra, wait," I said, squinting at the fruit. "Something's weird about that fruit…"

"Eh? What's weird about it?" Terra asked, looking at me. "Is it glowing? I think it does…" She looked back at it. "Well, I guess you should say 'Shining'…"

"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking," I replied. "Whatever it is, Kurt's grabbing it now."

Kurt's Yoshi lashed out with his tongue, snagging the fruit and pulling it into his mouth, and he immediately turned yellow and began to radiate light, shining through to reveal a hidden path in the mist. He ran through it, his brilliance shining through the mist as it closed behind him.

"What is that fruit…?" Axel wondered.

"Oh, it's a-" Mario began.

"That's a Bulb Berry," Ruka explained, cutting Mario off and prompting him to cry anime style. "Yoshis who eat it can radiate a special kind of light to reveal paths hidden to the naked eye." She looked back at Ray. "If he doesn't move soon, Ray's gonna lose…"

As if on cue, Ray sprang up. "That sucked," he commented. "Gotta get moving!" He and his Yoshi ran, bursting out of the jungle to the ledge. Ray pulled in the berry and dashed into the waterfall. "Where's Kurt, anyway?"

"Underneath you, fool," he heard. He looked down to see Kurt dropping off a ledge to land on a path, running across it. The waterfall crashed around them. But Kurt's Yoshi was emitting less and less light as time went on…

"So, these Bulb Berries aren't permanent, huh?" I asked.

Ruka waved her hand, revealing a shimmering hologram that showed Ray. She created another one that showed Kurt, but it was rapidly becoming fainter as time went on. "Yes, they can't do it forever. In fact, there isn't enough energy for them to do it indefinitely. Kurt'll have problems if he can't find another one."

"I HEARD THAT!" Kurt shouted. He grabbed a Bulb Berry at that point, causing light to intensify.

"NOBODY ASKED YOU!" Ruka shouted back. I had to plug my ears to avoid getting deafened.

"I can't keep up at this rate," Ray growled. "Wait, I know!" And he suddenly ran off the edge, into the waterfall.

"WHAT?" pretty much everyone shouted (except for Terra, who shouted it in Japanese).

"What do you plan to accomplish from that?" Kurt demanded, jumping over a part of the path that had collapsed. "You're only falling to your death." He jumped over a pile of fallen rock and lashed out with his Yoshi's tongue to grab the Bulb Berry, only for Ray's Yoshi to suddenly snatch it.

"Take that, sucker!" Ray shouted. "Now…" He suddenly lashed out with Yoshi's tongue again, pulling himself to a section later on down the trail. "Yeah! It worked!"

Kurt muttered some colorful language under his breath, both for being overtaken in such an underhanded way and for losing a Bulb Berry when it had been right in front of him. But now his Bulb Berry was running out, and he was getting a bit worried. "This is bad…"

"Yeah!" Ray shouted. "This is easy!" He ran along the path, and then ran out onto a section that extended out of the waterfall. In a couple of moments, he broke through the wall of pouring water. "W00T! I made it!"

"Ray, it still goes through the trees!" Ruka shouted.

"Doh," Ray muttered. "Well, it still shouldn't be that hard." He ran across the outcropping, towards the tall trees. But they were still too far away…

"What's he gonna do?" Terra asked. "He won't be able to jump that far, even with Yoshi…"

"Not really," Mario said. "See that?" He pointed. There was a light blue spherical berry with a tiny stem.

"Is that a balloon or a fruit?" Terra wondered.

"It's sort of both," Mario said. "The Blimp Fruit-it's a berry filled with gas, which will cause Yoshi to inflate and float like a balloon. Cool, huh?"

Ray grabbed the Blimp Fruit. "Let's go, Yoshi!" he shouted. Yoshi turned light blue and began to rise. But then he closed his mouth, and he just floated over to the tree branch.

"Keep floating, come on…" Ray muttered. But Yoshi was running out of breath. Suddenly, Ray spied another Blimp Fruit and directed Yoshi to it. Yoshi filled his…lungs(?) with gas, floating on to the next branch. He immediately ran out of breath, causing Ray to fall onto the branch.

Kurt burst out of the waterfall at that point and growled. "He's so far away now…fine!" Kurt grabbed the Blimp Fruit and began to fly after Ray.

Ray grabbed another Blimp Fruit and flew through the branches. "Too slow Kurt! You'll never catch up now…wait, what the heck?"

Kurt wasn't heading towards Ray, he was heading _up_. Above the trees. Ray watched him go for a bit, wondering what he was doing.

"CAMEO TIME!" Ben suddenly shouted, emerging from a blue portal. "And you owe me HOLY SH-"

"CRAAAAAP!" Ray shouted, plowing into Ben and flying through the portal.

"WHAT THE (explicative removed)?" Axel shouted. "HOW MANY CAMEOS HAS BEN MADE TODAY?"

"Let's see, he made…" I thought back. "I think 3 today…where did he go anyway?"

_Elsewhere…_

"This is easy!" Kurt laughed. "I've won, definitely." He grabbed a dash pepper and dashed through the treetops. "The Star is definitely mine-"

Suddenly, from a branch that was sticking upwards, an orange portal appeared. Ben and Ray went flying out, smashing Kurt sideways.

**KA-BLAM!**

Everyone winced. "That _had_ to hurt," Axel muttered.

"Ow," said Ray. "That really hurt…"

"No kidding…" Kurt muttered. You know, I think it should've sunk in by then…

"AH!" both of them shouted, seeing each other. Then they started running, trampling Ben in the process.

"OW! OOF UH DOH DOH DOH DOH DOH (explicative removed)!" Ben shouted as they stampeded him. "DOH!"

"Well, that's what he gets for making cameos when in the timeline, he was _supposed_ to be doing _Portal_ stuff now!" Axel said resignedly.

Ray and Kurt were neck and neck now. The treetops were a much better place for a race than the previous places (if you don't remember, IN the jungle, behind the waterfall, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah OH MY GOD THERE'S A GUY NEXT TO ME SELLING CHEETOS!

**WHACK!**

**Author: STOP IT!**

OW! Oh, whoops, Leon was just holding a bag of Cheetos and giving them out to everyone else for some reason.

"There's no way you can beat me when I have _this_!" Kurt shouted, snatching a Dash Pepper. "You lose, Ray!"

"What're you talking about?" Ray shouted, grabbing his own. "Let's see who loses now!"

Both Yoshis turned red. Both blasted forward at speeds that wouldn't just have broken the sound barrier; they'd have shattered it to pieces.

"You're too slow!" Ray shouted. "You're too OOF!" He smashed into a branch sticking up.

"Fool," Kurt muttered. "There's no way you can beat me NOOOOOW!" He fell into a hole between the trees at that point.

"Gotta win!" Ray shouted, running over the leaves and trying to ignore the massive bump on his head.

Kurt rose up with the Blimp Fruit and ran after him. But then Ray got a Dash Pepper. Kurt sighed. "I'll _never_ be able to win now…"

Ray jumped, launching himself through some sun gate whatever. AKA, the Finish.

**WINNER: RAY! =D**

"W00T!" Ray shouted. "I WIN! I GET THE STAR! YEAH!"

"Darn it," Kurt muttered. "Okay, let's do best two out of three."

"NO!" Ray shouted, blasting light at him.

**BOOOOM!**

"WAAAAAH!" Kurt shouted, flying away to somewhere else in the world. The Star went flying out of his grasp, to land in Ray's. And then Ray went back with his prize.

* * *

Ray came back shortly. "So, you're wondering why this place is called the Speed Star World, right?"

"Yes," I said. "Star I can understand, but speed?"

"You just found out the reason. It's our hobby," Ray explained. "Now we've got the Star, and we can…"

*insert powering down noise here*

Everyone looked at him, waiting for him to continue. "What, Ray?" Ruka asked, looking genuinely concerned.

Ray looked down at the ground. "Well, that's the thing…I don't know what to do with it."

"_What?_" Aidan shouted. "You tried to get the Star for us, didn't you? Or is there something you didn't tell us?"

"I think you need to know this now," Mario said, stepping forth. "_We_ need the Star, too."

"For what?" Holly demanded. "We need it so our home can remain the great place it is!"

"Yeah, but this is what we need it for," Mario said. "Holly…everyone…a super evil guy is trying to destroy this universe and create his own which will only know his rule. We need it so we can stop him."

"What can we do, guys…?" Ray asked.

Axel and I looked at each other, and nodded. Then we crossed our blades, and green and gold lightning coursed through mine, and a cold blue and silver moonlight through his. Where the two energies met, a white radiance was created.

"_Nani Osteiru_…?" Terra asked. Everyone except Ruka, clearly not familiar with Japanese, looked at her, causing her to shrink in embarrassment.

"We're creating another Star," Axel said. "This will allow the Speed Star World to remain as it is, and we can take the old Star. Good plan, right?"

"Can you really do that?" Ruka asked. "Creating a Star requires massive amounts of energy, after all."

"Together, we can make it," I promised. Then Axel and I swung our blades away from each other, filling the air with the light. A Star formed from the energy condensing.

"Wait, you can create Stars just like that?" Mario shouted. "Then why don't you-"

"It takes _so_ much energy for even the both of us to do it, it's a pain in the butt," Axel explained. "We don't have enough energy to do it again for a while."

"Thanks," Aidan said, taking the Star. "By the way, take this. I don't know what to do with it anyway."

Aidan held up his hand, and then gold light flashed into a shape, revealing a Comet Medal!

"A Comet Medal?" Mario shouted. "That means we can get _another_ Star here!"

"We'll help you get it when you ask," Leon said. "By the way, Ray…"

"Guys, go to Starship Mario," Ray said to us. "I'll remain here for a bit."

"Right," Mario said. "But we'll leave Terra here, just to keep an eye on you."

"EHHHHHHH!" Terra shouted in shock.

"_Gomenosai_, Terra," Axel laughed sheepishly. "But Ray can get into a lot of trouble, so we trust you to keep him in check."

"I'll make sure he doesn't do anything stupid," Terra promised. Ray started crying anime tears from not being trusted.

"Thanks," I said. "We're going now."

**WE GOT A STAR!**


	19. The Rise of the Machine Emperors

**The most frightening force Bowser had was one that was directly linked to the past of Aeron and I.**

**They were mechanical monsters combined of five pieces, each having alarming power in one area. When fully assembled, they created an emperor of destruction that was ultimate in combat. And to top it all off, they absorbed souls, a most wicked way of maintaining themselves.**

**Worst of all, they lived to defeat us, the Aethereans****. Behold, the Sky, the Wise, the Grand-the three Masters of Eradication, the Machine Emperors.**

* * *

_Two girls were standing in a flower-filled valley. They appeared to be heading out at that time._

_Both of the girls were about 165 cm. One had pink hair down to her waist, the other blue hair about the exact same length. And both of them wore sleeveless dresses down to their knees corresponding to their hair colors. Even their eyes were the same color as their hair._

_But the facial expressions showed different people underneath. The blue-haired one wore a look of carefree happiness and mischief, the pink-haired one a look of worry and timidity._

"_I feel something's not right here…" the pink-haired one said._

"_What? Like there aren't any bunnies around?" her blue-haired companion asked._

"_No, no, no! I mean, yeah, but…life seems kind of…scarce here. Like, not even _bugs_ are here! And the flowers seem to be…kind of…dying."_

"_What? If they were dying, then they'd be brown and wrinkled."_

"_I know! But…you have the same understanding of plants like I do. I feel like they're slowly having their life taken from them."_

"_Are you serious?" the blue-haired one asked. "I can't sense anything. It's not like they're getting their light cut off…"_

_Her voice trailed off. "What?" the pink-haired girl asked. "Is something wrong?"_

"_Is it just me, or is it getting darker?"_

_**SLASH!**_

_Suddenly, a green cut mark appeared out of nowhere, just hanging in the air. The two girls stared, gaping. Then the darkness began to set in, surrounding them, thick and heavy._

"_What is this?" one of them asked-it was impossible to see who now, and their voices were extremely similar. "Is this some kind of weird mist?"_

"_I don't think so…not when it feels like you can hear screams in it…" the other said._

_Sure enough, the darkness was impenetrable, coming at you from all angles and clutching in a tight grip, almost suffocatingly. There was no way to tell what your surroundings were like, and all sound seemed to come from all around you. But you could hear faraway shrieks in the darkness, which truly made you wonder where you were._

"_Hopefully we can get out of here soon…" one of them said. Suddenly, the darkness began to lift a little. Only a little._

"_Hey, we can see each other now!" the blue-haired one said as they emerged from the darkness. But her companion was just staring up, her mouth open in horror. "Um, hey? You listening?"_

_Eventually, the blue-haired girl just gave up and decided to look at what her friend was looking at. She looked up…and saw an extremely frightening sight. "What is…" she began. But the darkness of terror would not lift, no matter what._

_For standing above them was a silver, humanoid…thing. Its legs were oddly curved and had strange gray protrusions on its knees and upper thighs, and black lines ran between them. Its right arm had a white circle extruding out of it, revealing strange green lights. On the forearm was a shield with more gray pieces on it. The left forearm was adorned with a wicked blade, also oddly bent and hook-like. The head resembled a snake, but there was only a large, gaping mouth…and in that "mouth" was its eye, nothing more than red lines from the outside._

_But what caught the attention of the pink-haired girl was its chest. The Infinity symbol (__∞) was emblazoned on its chest, but inside that was just empty blackness. Empty, that is, except for a glowing green sphere of energy, surrounded with an atom-shaped nimbus. And it blazed out violently, as if craving something extremely badly._

_The strange being's "eye" flashed, and a green Infinity blazed into the air behind it. Green energy began to surround it as it advanced. Then a chilling voice was heard, a bare whisper but full of intent:_ "I am _Kikōtei_ (Machine Emperor) Wisel, the Emissary of Despair. I have come for your souls."

"_Our…souls?" the pink haired one asked. The being merely hissed in response, and then raised its blade. Green energy began to gather at it, filling the inside of the blade. Then it charged forward, swinging the blade._

_Both girls jumped back as it struck the ground underneath, smashing rocks upwards and sending them crashing into the trees, breaking them like sticks. Wisel made another swing, this time smashing through the mountain with the mere _wake_ of the slash and sending rocks tumbling down. "Oh my god, he's blowing everything up!" the blue haired girl shouted. "How do we stop him?"_

_Wisel whirled, and green energy began to accumulate in front of its face, then firing out in lasers. These served to destroy more of the surroundings, leaving trees smashed and overturned in their wake. __Two lasers struck the pink-haired girl and exploded. There was a scream, and she was left lying there, unconscious._

"_No! Flora!" the blue-haired girl shouted. She turned towards her aggressor. "Okay, _now_ you've asked for it!" She raised her hand, and flower petals began to accumulate at it. She then handknifed the air, sending the petals flying at the being, now able to shred it to pieces._

_But then Wisel held up its shield, swatting all the petals away with one swing. Then its core flashed, and the Infinity glowed green and opened into one hole rather than two, sending green energy tethers out at the girl._

"_What?" the girl wondered. Then they suddenly entangled around her ankles, wrists, waist, and neck, tightening to the point of no escape. "Hey! What is this? Let me go, you idiot!" She struggled, but there was nothing she could do to get free._

_Suddenly, she noticed something: The tethers were pulling on her. And she was getting closer and closer to Wisel's chest. "Hey! Stop! No!" She began to kick and scream, but it was to no avail. She couldn't get free, and all she did was lose her sandal._

_Wisel pulled her into its chest, and then it reverted back to an Infinity symbol, and the glowing green light faded. Then it flew away, to its next target…_

* * *

_Flora stirred. "Ohhh…" she groaned. "What was that?" The last thing she remembered was a green light hitting her, and then…_

_Everything immediately came crashing back. The strange being, the destruction of the valley…She struggled to stand up and looked around. Everything was a disaster. Mountains were greatly cut down to size, and trees were now little more than bits of wood. Lush green grass was now replaced by abraised gray cobbles, and the once flower-filled valley was little more than rubble._

_Flora then noticed the worst part. She looked around desperately. Then she saw it lying in the rock. She ran over and picked up a white flip-flop with dark blue straps. Flora's eyes began to tear up. She knew _exactly_ who the sandal belonged to._

_The rain began to fall on the scene, drenching the carnage. And ultimate despair sunk in as Flora screamed out what she had just lost…_

"_**SARIA!"**__…_

* * *

_Terra gasped, getting jolted out of her daydream-turned nightmare. And immediately regretted it, because her sudden lurch had guaranteed her a one-way trip down the tree she had been sleeping in. (Bad idea, I know.)_

"_UWAH!" __**BLAM!**_

_Terra sat up, rubbing the back of her head. "Itai…" She looked up at the sky. And then she saw a black cloud, and the whole horror of the dream came back to her._

_She looked around. What _was _that thing, and who were the girls in her dream?_

* * *

_Ray sat in his own hut, sitting in front of some table._

_His fist smashed against the table. "Crap…what do I do? Do I save the universe…or do I stay with my friends? Which one is the right way?"_

* * *

**Traveler's Log 016: The Rise of the Machine Emperors**

**Stars: 14**

**Terra**

* * *

Ehehe…it's been a long time since I last wrote, hasn't it? Sorry, I thought it wouldn't be fair if I wrote before everyone else except for Ray wrote 3 entries.

I tried to understand everything in my dream. That thing…what was it? How did it have such great power? And most of all…what happened to that blue haired girl?

"Terra-chan!" I suddenly heard. I turned, still on the ground, to see pink and deep red sneakers. I looked up to see who they belonged to.

It was a girl who was about as old as Ray was. She wore a dark red T-shirt with gold lines on it, and a pink hoodie and shorts. She had gold-gray eyes, and teal hair with bangs that went down past her shoulders. Some of her hair was drawn up in high ponytails.

"So this is where you were," she said, a look of relief on her face. "I was getting worried."

"Ruka-san," I said, remembering she was one of Ray's friends. Then I noticed. "Wait…you know the Japanese suffixes?"

Ruka laughed. "Actually, we Sunstrikers travel a lot, so I know Japanese now…but none of the others do."

"Oh, okay…" I said. "So, why did you say you were worried?"

Ruka's face grew serious. "Something strange is going on," she told me. "Do you know what _reishi_ is?"

"Y-yeah," I said. "It's stray particles of spiritual energy, right?"

"Yes," Ruka nodded. "And strangely, there's a serious deficiency of it in the air around us. So I went to find you, worried something may have happened. However, your _reiatsu_ hadn't disappeared, so it wasn't hard finding you."

"So, um…" I got up. "I guess I shouldn't have wandered off like that?"

"Don't worry about it," Ruka said. "Now let's head back. Your friends have returned."

* * *

Back at the Sunstrikers' homes, Aeron and the others were back, and Luigi was with them this time. "Hey, we're back," Aeron said. "So, has Ray been any trouble?"

"Actually, he was kind of quiet," I said. "I wonder why…"

"Whatever," Mario said. "RAY WE'RE BACK NOW GET OUT HERE!"

Ray immediately jumped out the window. "Corn!"

"FFFUUUUU-" Axel shouted.

**BOOOOOM!**

Axel whipped out a hammer and began smashing Ray over and over again.

"Ano…so do we go back to Starship Mario now?" I asked. "Is that why you came? To bring us back?"

"No," Aeron said, his expression darkening. "Something's wrong."

"Something…a meteor…is heading here," Luigi explained. "And a strange power is coming from it. So, we came here to figure out what it was about."

"I think your meteor is falling from the sky," Ruka informed him, pointing up. Sure enough, something was falling through the atmosphere, blazing bright red. It smashed hard into the ground, sending earth billowing up in random directions.

"Well, we should probably check it out," Ruka said. "Who knows what happened out there?"

"Let's go," Luigi said, and he walked off, with the others following him.

I watched them, wondering if I should tell them about my dream, but then decided not to. _They don't need another thing to worry about...right?_

* * *

_In space…_

"ARE YOU F*bleep*IN' KIDDING ME?"

The Goombas cowered in fear. "But, sir…"

"YOU'RE TELLING ME YOU TRIPPED AND SENT THAT STONE TABLET WITH STAR ENERGY RADIATING FROM IT OVERBOARD?" Shade shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Y-yeah, but…we thought we could get the Star out if we dropped it on something!" a Goomba said.

"BUT YOU DON'T DROP IT OVERBOARD GOD *bleep* IT!" Shade shouted.

"B-but…"

"Screw it," Shade muttered, and stormed away from his troops. Entering the cabin of his airship, he closed the door, sighing. "That's another Star down the drain for us. Why are my troops so stupid?"

The lights turned on, revealing an orange egg-like object. However, it was "opened", revealing gray spikes, and two rectangles extruded from the bottom.

"I guess I'll have to resort to _that_ to get it back," Shade muttered. "Master of the Grand, prepare to awaken…."

* * *

At the crash site, the other Sunstrikers-Leon, Aidan, and Holly-were all standing there, observing what just fell from the sky. "What the crap happened here?" Ray asked.

"A…_thing_…fell from the sky," Holly explained. "I wonder what it is?" But it was a rather odd meteor, because it was perfectly rectangular. The corners were perfect, and it looked like the whole thing hadn't taken any damage in its fall, though it appeared to have strange markings on either side.

"This isn't a meteor," Aeron said. "It's some stone tablet!"

"When do stones look like this?" Ray wondered, running a hand along it.

Suddenly, light raced through the lines on the stone, revealing what it depicted. But we didn't get a good look, because then, green data code began to surround the tablet, then light raced down from the sky and struck it, creating a massive shockwave.

"Hey, we didn't do that!" Leon shouted. "What's going on?"

"I was born, that's what's going on."

Everyone watched as a green robot emerged from the light. It had thick, dense armor plating on its chest, legs (which were block-like), arms, and even head. Two pipes emerged from its back, giving off steam, and a "cape" of steel clung around his legs to armor them further.

"What the crap?" Aeron wondered. "Who are you? Wait, you're a Yu-Gi-Oh card!"

*insert record scratch here*

"Wait, you play Yu-Gi-Oh?" Mario asked.

"Yes, I do. Why?" Aeron asked.

"That's dumb; who plays Yu-Gi-Oh these days?" Mario asked.

"Ano…a lot of people in my school actually do…" I said quietly.

"WHAT? SERIOUSLY?" Mario shouted.

"Yeah," I said. "But none of us really like XYZ monsters."

"Mario, I've been to a world where they play this game for sport," Aeron said. "And to cap it off, they settle the fate of the world with that game while riding on motorbikes. Now tell me, someone…how would you describe that?"

"Duh, I don't know," Ray said. "Card Games on Motorcycles?"

"CARD GAMES ON MOTORCYCL-WHAT THE F-AAUUGGHH!" Jack Atlas shouted as Axel brought a hammer down on his head.

"Indeed. I _do_ have a Yu-Gi-Oh counterpart," the robot said. "I am Junk Gardna."

"Hey, Junk Gardna! Cool! I have that card!" Axel said.

"Yes, and you've used it in the only twice," Aeron asked. "Which is why no one really cares that you have it." This prompted Axel to do anime-style tears.

"What the crap are you doing here?" Aidan asked.

"…I have no idea," Junk Gardna admitted. "Whatever. Anyway, I'll be crushing you because…because it was in my script!"

*insert record scratch here*

"Wait, really?" Mario asked. He grabbed the script from Junk Gardna. "Oh wait, it was. CRAP!"

"GUYS, THE CAMERA'S STILL GOING! YOU DON'T LOOK AT SCRIPTS WHEN-" Ray began.

**CUT!**

* * *

_Take two._

"…I have no idea," Junk Gardna admitted. "Whatever. Anyway, I'll be crushing you because I've got nothing better to do!"

"This is the lamest reason for a boss fight _ever_," Aeron complained.

"SHUT UP!" Junk Gardna shouted.

* * *

**Boss: Junk Gardna**

"Ha!" Leon shouted, throwing a kick at Junk Gardna. "It'll be _easy_ to defeat you!"

Junk Gardna (actually, let's call him Gardna; Junk Gardna is a bit of a mouthful) merely raised his shield, blocking the strike. "OWWW!" Leon shouted.

"I'd like you to say that again," Gardna said. "Because my shields will be much too strong for you to penetrate."

"Say that again, dork!" Leon shouted, throwing a sphere of light at him. Then he followed up with several more, all coming at Gardna from different angles.

Junk Gardna merely raised his arms and brought them together with a mighty clash, sending the spheres of light mysteriously flying in other directions. "Not good enough."

"Oh yeah? Well I'm gonna kick your butt right here!" Leon shouted, making another dash at him.

Gardna responded by clashing his shields together once more, somehow creating a shockwave that actually managed to send all of us flying from it. "How can you hope to defeat me?" Gardna asked.

"Like this!" Ray shouted, running at him. Suddenly, a white falcon blazed out of his fist, propelling him at Gardna at super-fast speed. "Falcon PUNCH!"

The green shields immediately clashed together once more, prepared to repel Ray's attack. But the Falcon Punch was enough to knock him back quite a bit, and leave a smoking mark on his shields.

"Now!" Ray jumped at him. "You're finished, you-"

**WHAM!**

"WAAAAAH~!" Ray shouted, going flying into some trees and knocking them down. "AAAAH!" He mysteriously ricocheted and smashed into a boulder, destroying it.

Gardna lowered his fist. "Seems we're all using punches now, eh?"

"Ray!" I shouted, running over. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be just fine," Ray said, getting up. "As soon as I get my revenge on that guy."

"I'd give that dive a solid 8.3," Axel commented.

"Shut up," Ray growled. "This isn't some sporting event. Well, maybe it is…BOXING!" With that, he ran up to Junk Gardna, gathering his energy and creating a falcon once more. "Falcon…"

"You just don't get it, do you?" Gardna asked. He raised his shields and clashed them together, sending another shockwave that sent Ray flying back. "No one can defeat me. NO ONE."

"Let's check that," Aeron said, raising his sword and holding it in front of himself. His hand flew across the length of his blade, and lightning trailed it from the blade's tip to the hilt. "Rule over the Raging Heavens, _Tsubasa no Rai-oh_!"

Aeron pointed his blade at Junk Gardna, sending the remaining lightning flying off the blade. "Let's see how much of a beating you can take!" White fire began to fill his blade. Aeron raised it over his head. "_Nagareboshi_ (Shooting Star)!" he shouted, bringing it down and sending the fire flying at Gardna.

Gardna brought up his shields, blocking the attack but getting pushed backwards several meters, leaving deep marks in the ground. (Apparently, he was very heavy.) But Aeron wasn't done. He pointed his finger at Gardna, gathering green light at it. "_Shinsei Taiho_!" He fired it out in a beam, sending Gardna backwards some more. Then Aeron's blade filled with gold lightning, and he stabbed forward, shouting "_Ikazuchi Chikara_!" Gardna skidded backwards even further, but the lightning coursed through his body, stunning him.

"Now!" Aeron raised his sword, swirling blue water around it. "_Uzumaki Kyouran_!" He swung the blade once more, sending water swirling in a whirpool around Gardna. Then Aeron stabbed into the water. "_Ikazuchi Chikara_!"

**ZZZZZZZZT!**

Gardna fell back, stunned. But he got up in slow motion and clashed his shields together, sending another shockwave that knocked Aeron back. Then he began to walk towards Aeron, still in slow motion. "You can't defeat me. I'm too resilient for your attacks."

"This guy doesn't even have any cool moves," Mario complained. "Can't he do something like drop from the sky?"

_As if on cue…_

**WHAM!**

Gardna suddenly dropped from the sky in a beam of green light on top of Mario. "OWWW!" Mario shouted.

"Wait, how'd that guy actually get up there?" Holly wondered. "He's so frickin' fat!"

"I magically teleported," Gardna said. "And my armor is too strong for you, so you can't defeat me."

It was then that a Yu-Gi-Oh card was sent flying at him. It lodged itself deep in his armor, at least 4 cm!

"_Nanda_…?" I wondered. "Cards can't cut that deeply…"

"Oh, gee, someone just pulled off a Seto Kaiba," Aeron said. "Alright, who was it?"

Junk Gardna just stared at his chest. "What…a _card_? How could it have possibly-"

Another card flew, lodging itself in a similar manner. By then, Gardna had figured something was up, and raised his shields to defend from another attack. But then 2 cards burrowed their way into his armor on his _back_!

Gardna looked over his shoulder. "Who's doing this?" Then 2 cards lodged into his right leg, and 2 into the left. One raced towards each shield. Gardna tried to block both of them, but they both just lodged themselves into his shields.

"Who uses Yu-Gi-Oh cards as weapons?" Luigi wondered. "And more importantly, how come I didn't get to say anything for the past few paragraphs?"

"Alright. Whoever's throwing cards at me, come out now!" Gardna declared, clashing his shields together loudly.

"It's only me." We all turned to see Ruka holding a card between her index and middle fingers. "Surprised?"

Gardna's answer was to disappear in a beam of light. Ruka's eyes narrowed, and she suddenly did a roll backwards, causing Gardna to drop onto nothing.

"How on earth did you do that?" Gardna looked down at the cards. "Cards cannot lodge themselves so far into _paper machete_, let alone my armor! So how…?"

"I'll explain like this," Ruka replied, clapping her hands together. Suddenly, I could make out a small rectangle around each card, like an invisible card sleeve which was rather small (it fit snugly in the sleeve), beginning to light up. The ten continued to light up, until they were all radiating with light.

"Wha-what?" Gardna shouted. "Those cards are charging with light! But then that means they're…!"

"That's right," Ruka said. "It took me a _**lot**_ of effort, but I coated each card with sharp crystal. This allows them to pierce through most substances if I charge them with my _reiatsu_, and also makes them quite heavy, so they can go pretty far."

"Wait…why charge them with your _reiatsu_?" I asked. "Can't they cut through on their own?"

"Yeah, but charging them with _reiatsu_ provides better results," Axel explained. "Crystal actually conducts _reiatsu_ better than any other substance in the universe."

"No! Stop!" Gardna shouted. "If you keep doing this, it'll cause my armor to explode…!"

"Too late," Ruka interrupted. "It already has." She thrust her hands forward, and at that, the cards flashed violently.

**BOOOOOM!**

"GAAAAAH!" Junk Gardna was left with badly smoking armor all over his body. "You'll pay for that!" he growled. "YOU'LL PAY DEARLY-"

"TASTE THE RAINBOW MATHAFAKA!" Ray shouted. (Oh dear, I think that language was extremely explicit…)

Ray ran towards Gardna, beginning to flash with light. Suddenly, he split into SIX Rays! Each one was a different color of the rainbow.

"What? NOOO!" Gardna shouted as Ray came closer.

"Rainbow Rampage!" Ray shouted, smashing into Gardna from six different angles.

**BOOOOOM!**

Gardna's armor COMPLETELY exploded off, revealing the Star.

"There's the Star! Get it!" Luigi shouted.

"THAT WAS THE MOST BORING BOSS FIGHT EVER!" Mario shouted.

**WE GOT A ST-**

"Wait, what's that?" Axel asked, pointing upwards. Everyone looked up and saw a white comet flying above.

"Oh, god, no," Luigi groaned. "Not a Daredevil Comet!"

"Daredevil?" Aeron asked.

"It makes us have to repeat a Boss Fight where they're ridiculously powered up," Luigi groaned.

"Wait, but that means-" Ruka began.

Immediately, Junk Gardna dropped down from the sky in a column of green light. "I'm back," he said.

"FFFFFUUUUUUU-" Aeron shouted.

* * *

**Boss: Junk Gardna (Daredevil)**

Gardna began to move towards us considerably faster (though still rather slowly). "It won't be so easy to defeat me _this_ time," he declared. "Who's first now?"

"I'll take the first move," Axel declared. He raised his sword and pointed it at Junk Gardna. "Rule over the Midnight Heavens, _Shiruba-Getsu_!" His gauntlets quickly materializing on his arms, Axel began a dash at Gardna. "I'll cut through your shields easily," he said rather calmly.

"We'll see about that," Gardna said. But he apparently wasn't aware of Axel's ability…or that was what I thought at the time.

Axel made a slash, but it ground against the shield in a shower of sparks. Axel stared. "Wait, what the crap?" Gardna punched Axel away with the other arm. "AAAAAAAH!" Axel went skidding into a boulder, destroying it. "Okay. How did I not cut through that?"

"A Chainsaw-type blade, eh?" Gardna asked. "But it'll take time to cut through my shields, which are 2,000,000 kg each. Single strikes will not work!"

"Dang, now what?" Axel wondered. "Oh, yeah, now I know." He raised his gauntlets, and they began to spark with dark blue lightning bolts. "_Boruto no Kage_!" Gardna raised his shields, blocking the bolts, but then Axel made another dash, this time attacking many times in succession. Axel came in a rapid pattern, alternating attacking with backswings and forward slashes with each second. Gardna was repeatedly knocked back by this. Then Axel drew one fist back. "_Tsukiren_!" He punched, sending a silver wave out and sending Gardna back even further.

"Now I'll pierce you," Axel declared, raising two fingers. Silver energy began to accumulate at his fingertips. "_Ketatamashi-_" Gardna interrupted by disappearing in a column of green light, and then reappearing on top of Axel. "OWWWW!" Axel shouted.

"You cannot defeat me," Gardna said. "Do not make me repeat myself."

"Not this way," Axel said. "But maybe…" He turned. "Aeron! Let's hang loose on this guy!"

"Right!" Aeron shouted. "Wait, you don't mean…" Axel nodded, prompting a grin (that looked evil) from Aeron. "Then let's do it."

Both of them stood in front of Gardna, then they pointed their swords upwards. "_**BANKAI**_ (Final Release)!" both of them shouted, sending green and blue beams into the sky from their swords.

Day suddenly turned to a star-filled night, and clouds began to spiral in the sky as a blast of silver light intertwined with golden lightning crashed down on the two. Lightning crackled in the distance, but twelve lightning bolts just would not go away. I narrowed my eyes. "What's going on?" I wondered.

Then the beam of silver light receded, revealing a tall obelisk of ice that seemed to reach up all the way to the moon. We stared in awe at it, before the tip suddenly broke open, revealing Axel and Aeron…but they had changed. Aeron now wore a ragged, green long-sleeved coat that met at the chest with silver edges. Axel's ridiculously fancy outfit had become even fancier, now with new curling patterns, and now he had silver wings. Two _daitos_ resembling his sealed _Zanpaku-to _were in his hands, linked by a silver chain. Aeron now held a new sword, the blade widening slightly after the spikes on the guard, then sloping down to the point.

"_Doki no Shiruba-Getsu_ (Silver Moon of Wrath)" came from Axel's mouth. "_Senkei, Kage no Raioh_ (Slaughterscape, Thunder King's Shadow)" was what Aeron said.

Gardna stared in shock. "_Bankai_, you say?" he repeated.

"Yeah, _Bankai_," Axel confirmed. "And we're going to kick your butt using it." And then, before any of us could do anything, Axel and Aeron had suddenly landed so many slashes on Gardna it didn't make sense. All this sent Gardna flying past the trees, breaking them like sticks. "After him!" Axel shouted. His wings flapped, and he descended on Gardna in seconds.

"Flashy," Aeron muttered, and then he disappeared from sight. Suddenly, we could all hear him shout, "WHAT THE HECK?"

"_Nani?"_ I ran after them. And as soon as I cleared the trees, I saw a sight I dreaded. _"Nanda korewa_ (What is this)_?"_ I was a disaster. A valley's sides were greatly cut down to size, and trees were now little more than tiny bits of wood. Lush green grass was now replaced by abraised gray cobbles, and the once flower-filled valley was little more than rubble. _Just like in my dream_, I thought sadly.

"What…?" Ray whispered weakly. "This place…how did it end up like this?"

"No _native_ could've done it," Ruka noted, holding up a cobble. "But Junk Gardna couldn't have, either."

"But speaking of which, where'd Junk Gardna go?" Axel wondered. He looked around several times.

"_I killed him, that's what."_

"Who said that?" I demanded, whirling around. And then I saw a horrifying sight: The place where we had been standing earlier was equally devastated. And worse, lying in the rubble were Leon, Holly, Aidan, Mario, and Luigi. The Star that appeared before the Daredevil Comet was gone…but something worse was in its place.

An orange robot stood before us, and it looked far from friendly. On one arm, it had several plates forming a shield with gray extrusions on and behind it. On the other, a powerful gray cannon was attached. Instead of legs, it had hemisphere-shaped treads with gray pegs on the sides. Its head was angular and pointed upwards, while it looked at us with a single, red eye.

But then I saw something that made my heart stop: The torso of the robot had the Infinity symbol on it. And inside that was an atom-shaped mass of energy. It was chilled even further when the core flashed, and then an orange Infinity blazed itself in the air behind him. The robot leveled its cannon, declaring in a deep voice that seemed to come from the very earth itself: _"I am _Kikōtei_ Grannel, the Emissary of Despair. I have come on behalf of he who awakened me."_

"Grannel…?" Axel wondered. "Don't remember that guy."

"It gets worse…" I whispered, but so quietly no one could hear me. This thing resembled that which was in my dream too much…

"Hey!" Ray shouted. He gestured at all the destruction around us. "You were responsible for destroying parts of our home, weren't you?"

"_So I did,"_ Grannel said, his voice empty of all emotion. _"What about it?"_

"Oh, that DOES IT!" Ray shouted. A white falcon immediately blazed out of his fist, and then he ran at Grannel right away. "FALCON PU-"

Grannel's shield arm moved quickly, ramming Ray away and sending him flying into the trees. A massive explosion quickly followed, and trees went flying, breaking on the ground like sticks. A massive crater was left where Ray landed, and we could all see he was badly hurt…at least some bones broken.

"_Amateurs,"_ Grannel said. _"I would brag, but it is not in my nature to do so."_

"Ray!" I shouted. I ran over to him once more. "Ray, are you alright?"

"Corn…" Ray groaned, apparently not alright.

* * *

**Boss: Machine Emperor Grannel (Daredevil)**

"Looks like _I'll_ have to take you out!" Axel decided, and he flew at Grannel, reaching him faster than any of us could blink.

**CLANG!**

Suddenly, Axel's blade was against Grannel's shield. Grannel just sighed. "Do you ever learn?" he asked. This was followed with Grannel shoving Axel backward and raising his cannon. Orange energy began to gather before it. _"Grand Slaughter Cannon!" _With that, a spiraling orange blast of energy surged forward, coming closer to Axel, and closer, and closer…Axel suddenly folded his wings in front of himself just as the attack came.

**KA-BOOOOOOM!**

Orange light exploded in all directions. I'm embarrased to say I was screaming, but I couldn't help noticing that the earth itself seemed to be screaming, too. And when the light spiraled away, Axel was lying on the ground, also completely unconscious. His wings flickered, and then just dispelled into silver energy, which floated away on the wind.

"Axel!" I shouted, running over to him. I picked him up, and looked at him. "No...is he dead?"

"No," Aeron said. "He defended himself before the attack came. But Grannel's attack was too powerful, and it knocked him out...and broke some bones, too." He turned towards Grannel. "I'll take you on now. All you're doing is destruction and slaughter. And I'll put an end to that."

_"Destruction. Slaughter. While that is what it would appear to be, it is incorrect. And your reasons for stopping me?"_ Grannel asked. _"For your Heart, maybe?"_

"What do you mean by that?" Aeron asked. "What do you mean, 'for my heart'?"

_"The greatest failing of all living things..."_ Grannel's cannon whipped up and jabbed at Aeron's chest. _"...is right there. The Heart."_

"Our hearts are our greatest failing?" Ruka repeated.

_"That's right,"_ Grannel said. _"Humanity's hearts are full of contradiction. Slavery, Human Discrimination, Environmental Destruction, World Disputes...these are all examples of your so called 'destruction' and 'slaughter'. And the cause of that is the Heart."_

Grannel leveled his cannon once more. _"But humanity will never be able to let go of their hearts. As a result, they will perish because of that. You all will die by the hand..."_

"Of you?" Aeron asked. "Because I don't plan on losing to some cyclops robot that does nothing but blow up stuff!"

_"NO."_ Grannel's voice was thunderous now. _"The hand of _DESPAIR_."_

"Despair" rang through my mind, over and over and over. But as time went on, it became less like Grannel's voice, and more of a hissing, quiet-yet-powerful whisper...the voice of Wisel. And then that faded, giving way to laughter...still like Wisel's, but then joined by Grannel's deep, powerful voice, and one more...but all of it put together was so terrible I can't describe the last one accurately.

_No. No! NO! STOP IT!_ I thought. "_YAMERO (STOP IT)!"_ I shouted out loud, ignoring Ruka and Aeron's astonished looks. Then earth burst up in every direction, smashing EVERYONE in the area-Ruka, Grannel, and Aeron all got hit-and it just wouldn't stop, like the strange laughter.

When several eternal seconds had passed, the laughter finally disappeared from my mind, but Ruka and Aeron were now on the ground. Grannel had only sustained a few scratches. "No..." I groaned, and fell to my knees.

_"That was odd,"_ Grannel commented. _"You acted like a berserker for several moments. I must say, if it wasn't for _that-_"_ He pointed up at the Daredevil Comet- _"-I may have lost an arm at least."_

"Wait..._I_ did all that?" I asked, astonished. "But how could I have possibly done all of it? I'd never attack my friends..."

_"You said 'STOP IT', I recall,"_ Grannel told me. _"And then you caused all this destruction. Perhaps you are succumbing to Despair?"_

"Grannel," I said, stepping forth, no longer able to contain the question. "I have to ask you...who is Wisel?"

Grannel paused. _"Wisel?"_ he repeated. _"Strange how you knew the name of my colleague. He is, like me, a Machine Emperor, an Emissary of Despair. We both work to destroy."_

"But why?" I asked. "Why do you want to do such a thing?"

_"That is our mission,"_ Grannel answered. _"To eradicate..."_ Then he pointed his cannon at my chest. _"The Heart."_

"But you don't have to-" I began, looking around at the destruction around us.

_"Don't have to do what?"_ Grannel cut me off coldly. _"Don't have to destroy the universe? Foolish talk. The Heart will never be fully destroyed, unless the universe is. Tell me, what good has the Heart ever done for you?"_

"It's what made me a Shining Star!" I pointed out. "And that gave me the power to protect my friends."

_"So you are a Shining Star,"_ Grannel noted. _"That makes things even worse. They are completely guided by their hearts. But the One who Awakened Us will create a new universe, and we will destroy this one."_

"But what good will come out of this new universe?" I demanded. "You'll get destroyed, too!"

_"If our mission is completed, we will gladly fall,"_ Grannel replied. _"While He has a heart, he will put an end to the heart's contradiction. And whilst destruction and slaughter may still exist, the heart's contradictions will be erased."_

"But are all the lives of the people living in this universe even worth that?" I demanded. "That 'contradiction' will be resolved eventu-"

_"Nonsense!"_ Grannel's shield arm smashed on the ground, sending rocks flying up. _"You have no idea how long I have existed, how long I have seen the contradiction, how long people have tried to resolve it and failed. Failed, that is, in the face of _Despair_!"_

I opened my mouth once more, but Grannel cut me off. _"I am tired of _your_ contradiction. I will silence you. Feel the wrath of Despair!"_

And then, the haunting memories paralleled real life: Grannel's chest opened up and glowed green, then green tethers flew out at me.

"No! I won't lose my soul to you!" I shouted defiantly, creating a wall of earth in front of myself.

_"You must be confused,"_ Grannel replied. _"That will not stop me."_ And then the tethers phased through the rock, flying at me once more.

"No!" I jumped back, but then the tethers shot out quickly, snaring my left wrist. "No!" I cried. Then another one came around my waist. I tried to sever it with an emerald, but then my right arm was pulled away with a third. Then the last three lashed around my neck and ankles, EXACTLY like in my dream.

_"Feel the pain. Wallow in Despair!" _Grannel declared, and the tethers began to pull me towards him.

"N-no!" I cried. "I won't lose my soul! I'll keep living!" I tried to sever the tethers once more with spikes of earth, but they just phased through. "_N-nani?"_ I cried. I tried to grab onto something, but then my hand passed through that, too. I stared in horror at it. Was this the end?

Then I entered Grannel's chest, and saw nothing but orange light. I screamed, and then...that's when things aren't clear anymore. _Gomenosai_ (sorry).

* * *

_Grannel sighed as his chest reverted back to an Infinity symbol. _"Another falls to despair,"_ he declared, and then he turned and began to fly away._

_But little did he know that Aeron was beginning to struggle up. Aeron, barely conscious after Terra had gone berserk from the "Despair" lines, had witnessed _everything_. And he definitely wouldn't do nothing about it._

_Picking up a tracker, Aeron threw it as hard as his remaining strength would allow him to. It latched onto Grannel's Infinity piece (torso) and clung there, beginning to glow red._

_Aeron groaned. "I'll...get Terra...back...no matter...what..." He collapsed, his blade coursing with green lightning and reverting back to his sealed state sword._

_All was silent in the valley once more._


	20. Pursuing the Machine Emperor

**The appearence of Grannel completely changed our journey. It wasn't all rainbows and smiles before, but everything just turned darker.**

**But in that darkness that the emissary of despair caused, there was a light: a light which would lead us to Bowser's headquarters.**

**The light of hope would always shine through the darkness of despair for the rest of our journey.**

* * *

**Traveler's Log Entry 17: Pursuing the Machine Emperor**

**Stars: 14**

**Mario**

* * *

The first thing I saw when I woke up was the ceiling. Not too surprising, unless you count where I last remembered where I was.

"Owwww..." I groaned, beginning to get up. "Who was that weird robot person...?" At the time, all I could really remember was that while Aeron and Axel had attacked Junk Gardna, something had blasted me from behind, and pretty much had an atom bomb effect, except I survived.

I looked around a bit. Strangely, I wasn't anywhere near where we got blasted. In fact, we were back at the Sunstrikers' place! The Sunstrikers, and Luigi and people were all in random other places in the house, most knocked out. EVERYONE was injured in some way or another. "Phew!" I said. "Everyone's back..."

"I don't think so," I suddenly heard. I turned.

"Oh, hey, Ruka," I said. "You don't look too good. What happened?"

Ruka was leaning against the wall for support, and her body had a bunch of cuts and bruises on it. Her clothes were grimy with dirt, too. Her expression was also really serious. "If you haven't noticed, Aeron's not back. And neither is Terra."

"WHAT? I THOUGHT EVERYONE WAS HERE!" I shouted. "AND THERE'S NO WAY I COULD HAVE CALCULATED WRONG, BECAUSE I AM SO AWESOME!"

Ruka sighed and reached towards some bright red device on her forearm that she put on just recently, which held a bunch of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, and pulled one out. Which she promptly threw at me. "Huh?" I asked. "What's that supposed to-?"

_Snick._

I shut up immediately when the supposedly harmless card sliced through a lock of my hair and left a small cut on the side of my head.

Ruka drew another one. "Next one's going between your eyes," she told me calmly.

"AAAAAAA RUKA'S GOING TO KILL ME WITH CARDS!" I shouted. "AND HER CARDS ARE REALLY WEIRD!"

Ruka threw the second one almost immediately. "AAAAAAAAA!" I shouted, dodging as it lodged itself a good 3 cm into the wall.

"One, stop screaming. Everyone else is _sleeping_, for God's sake," Ruka said quietly. She went over to the first card she threw, now on the floor. I couldn't help but notice that she picked it up in a strange way that never allowed her fingers to touch the edges. "And two, please stop with the 'I am so awesome' stuff. It's annoying."

"R-right..." I said, thoroughly freaked out now. Ruka placed the cards into her deck, still not touching the edges. The thing holding the deck turned 90 degrees, facing her hand, and almost immediately shuffled the deck on its own. "Uh...what's that?" I asked. "I mean, the thing on your arm?"

"Oh, this?" Ruka asked, looking at the thing on her wrist. "This is just something I had made for me to hold my cards and shuffle them. So I can quickly grab one and do...what I just did."

"...how did you do that?" I asked. "Cards can't do all that!"

"Corn!"

"Oh, brother," Ruka muttered, and dove under a table.

"ME HIDE!" I shouted, running into the corner and crouching.

**BOOOOOOOM!**

I was sent flying halfway across the room and smashed through a bunch of different things. And riccocheting all around the room. And blah.

_One carnage later..._

Ruka crawled out from under the table, which actually didn't fly around much. "Is it over yet?" she asked.

"I think," I groaned, getting up. Everything hurt all over. "I guess Ray's up, huh?"

"I doubt anyone would be sleeping after that," Ruka muttered, dusting herself off. "Should we check?" She left the room before I had a chance to answer.

I sighed and went to the kitchen. "Maybe I can find some pasta," I muttered, digging through the fridge. But after several minutes of searching, I couldn't find any pasta.

"Dude, seriously?" I suddenly heard. "Raiding other people's kitchen is NOT cool."

"Who said that?" I asked, turning. And guess who it was?

It was Aeron. Who looked like he had gone through Hell (I have been asked not to censor it). "Yo, I'm back."

"WHOA, AERON, WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO YOU?" I shouted. "YOU LO-"

"Yeah, I know, I look like I've been run 10 times through with a nuke launcher. I get it," Aeron said. "And that's practically what happened. You see, while the author was fishing for a new notebook, I had a massive brawl..."

* * *

_Several hours earlier..._

Grannel turned away. _"Another one falls to despair. Now onto the next objective,"_ he said to himself. _"But first, I think I'll take the souls of all the rest."_

"I'm sorry, you can't. Because _no one_'s here."

Grannel whirled, surprised. Aeron was standing there, still with Bankai, COMPLETELY unharmed. And none of the others were even in the area. _"How did you do that?"_ Grannel demanded. _"I saw you just a few minutes ago, lying there, unconscious. So where are your companions, and how are you still standing?"_

"With magic," Aeron replied offhandedly. Grannel gave him a hard stare. "What? I'm SERIOUS! It WAS magic!" Aeron protested.

_"Indeed. But _explain_ the nature of this 'magic',"_ Grannel replied.

"Okay, fine," Aeron said. "What you saw...was me. But at the same time, it was _not_ me."

_"And why wasn't it you?"_ Grannel asked. _"Was it an illusion?"_

"What did I just say?" Aeron asked. "It was me..."

At this time, Grannel saw that for some reason, Aeron's image kind of wavered, and then there were _two_ Aeron's standing in the exact same spot, until they fully seperated from each other. One stepped one way, and the other the exact opposite direction.

"But at the same time, it was _not_ me," both said at the same time.

_"So you can split yourself into clones. Interesting,"_ Grannel commented.

"Not exactly," the Aeron on the left corrected him. "We're both the original. Or two halves of the original. Our unstable DNA allows us to split our body into multiple bodies. But we're all still single minded. Therefore, dividing into 5 or 6 would drive all of us insane."

_"Interesting,"_ Grannel commented. _"But in that case, I'll destroy both of you."_ He leveled his cannon at them, and began to charge it up. Orange energy ran through the lines on it. _"Grand Slaughter Cannon!"_

Both Aerons jumped away as Grannel blasted a massive orange beam from his cannon, creating a massive explosion. And then Aeron, who ISN'T someone who goes like "Alright, time's up, let's do this! LEEROOOOY! JEEENKIIINS!", strafed past Grannel, blasting several _Shinsei Bakuha_ at him from his hand. Grannel attempted to block, but the other Aeron ran across the other way, doing the same thing. Grannel growled, and suddenly, the earth began to spike up randomly. The blasts smashed harmlessly against the churning earth, which continued to ripple out to strike both Aerons. However, they both just kind of started jumping off of the very earth spikes he was creating. (FAIL.)

"What's wrong, too much?" the Aeron on the right asked. "Is the great Machine Emperor failing?"

_"Do not overestimate yourself,"_ Grannel said, moving his cannon and sweeping the beam across the area towards said Aeron.

However, that Aeron shimmered, and two took his place, jumping in opposite directions, dodging the beam. Then two of them pointed their swords at Grannel, and white lightning began to crackle across their blades. "_Ikazuchi Chikara!_" both of them shouted, blasting the lightning at the Machine Emperor. Twin walls of earth rose, blocking the lightning, but then Grannel was aware of a green light beginning to fill the air behind him. Turning, he saw that the final Aeron was charging _Shinsei Taiho_, ready to shoot him. "_Shinsei Taiho!"_ Aeron shouted, blasting a green laser at Grannel. Grannel whirled and brought up his shield, allowing the laser to explode harmlessly against it. But then Aeron was flying at him with _another_ attack.

_"Going for the 'Attack Attack Attack' strategy?"_ Grannel asked. _"Such a strategy is not what I expected from the Herald of Aether."_

"Wait, you know?" Aeron shouted.

_"Of course,"_ Grannel replied. _"Would you like to know my origin?"_ He pointed at himself with his cannon. _"I am Machine Emperor Grannel Infinity. The creation and hand of Sosuke Aizen." _It clicked in about now.

"Sosuke Aizen?" Aeron repeated. "But every time I hacked into Aizen's plans, I never saw any of this before..."

_"Those plans were...erased...before you could see them,"_ Grannel explained. _"You see, Aizen intended the three of us-the three Machine Emperors-to be his greatest weapon. But this idea never came to frutition."_

"So there are three of you?" Aeron asked. "And this 'Wisel' guy Terra mentioned is a second?"

_"But the third of us has yet to show its face to the world,"_ Grannel said. _"It is extremely hard to keep us active, and even harder to activate us in the first place. Do you feel the _reishi_ in this area?"_

Aeron paused, then noticed. Grannel was emitting _reiatsu_ in negative. There was no pressure that he created, only a sense of emptiness around him. _"Exactly,"_ the Machine Emperor said. _"Our very presence is opposite that of yours. We take the ambient _reishi_ from the area and convert it into our own power."_

"And ambient would mean in the air..." Aeron said. "Or rather, you forcibly take it from people, don't you?"

_"That is what 'ambient' means,"_ Grannel replied. _"We take _reishi_ from any sources we can. Even if it's souls. In fact, we primarily get our power from Souls."_

"So _that's_ what happened to Terra just now," Aeron muttered. "Is there a way to get her back?"

_"There is none,"_ Grannel replied. _"She is no longer of this world."_

Aeron...no, all THREE Aerons...brought their blades down on Grannel instantly, each using _Reppuzan_ to up the power of their attack. Grannel was struck by all three, smashing him hard. "In that case, then I guess I can just obliterate you right off the bat!" Aeron shouted, pointing his sword at Grannel. The other two did the same. Pale light began to fill their blades, flashing with many different colors. Wings of the same light materialized behind their backs, flapping majestically.

"_Sutasutariku Burasto!_ (Starstrike Blast!)" all three Aeron's shouted. And from each one's blade, a surging arrow of light fired out at Grannel.

Grannel watched them come, then sighed. _"No choice but to do _that_, eh?"_

Suddenly, all three blasts exploded harmlessly (well, actually, they nuked everything BUT Grannel) against an energy shield that surrounded Grannel. When the smoke cleared, all three Aerons were shocked to see what was hovering in front of Grannel, tied by the wrists, ankles, neck, and waist by green tethers: **Junk Gardna**.

_"Thank you for your efforts, Junk Gardna,"_ Grannel said, his chest opening and sucking Junk Gardna back in. He turned his attention back to his opponents. _"And now we shall close the curtain on this battle, yes?"_

"What the he-" Aeron began.

_"Your guard is down,"_ Grannel suddenly declared, and none of the clones could do anything when suddenly, the earth burst up in spikes, impaling all of them. As all three fell in midair, Grannel's chest opened up once more, and tethers shot out at all three of them. _"If there are three, then I can raise my power by that of _all_ of them,"_ he muttered to himself.

**SLICE!**

Warning signs popped up all through Grannel's sensors, as a previously hidden but suddenly revealed massive source of energy appeared behind him, and a loud rending noise was heard. The Machine Emperor buckled, something had sliced open his back, cutting a few vital wires. So vital, that Grannel was fully aware of what would happen next. The tethers flickered, then disappeared from existance. Grannel's chest closed, and the green light faded. And none of the clones were even hurt. "Oh, dear," the machine heard. "It looks like I broke something important. _What_ could it possibly be?"

_"Guh..."_ Grannel recovered (no, he didn't COMPLETELY get better) and whirled. _"Who dares?"_

And guess what? It was ANOTHER Aeron. God, what's enough for him? _"You're still-?"_ Grannel whirled again, looking at the three clones that he just owned. _"Impossible! This cannot be! When did you-"_

"Reserve combatant," the Aeron replied. "Actually, I'm not the real Aeron, either. But you're not gonna be able to do much more without that ab-"

Rage quickly takes this Machine Emperor over, it seems, and he performed massive overkill, pummeling the clone with rocks, churning the earth underneath his feet into a crazy mess of dirt, spiking the ground underneath him in a...um...critical point, blasting him again and again with Grand Slaughter Cannon...god, do I have to go on? _"This is what happens,"_ Grannel growled, _"when you oppose the Machine Emperors!"_

And then the creepiest part. The Aeron, who should have DIED about 9001 times, looked at Grannel. "And you haven't seen the best part yet," he said.

_"Wh-wha-"_

**BOOOOOOOOOM!**

Yes. All three clones were destroyed in a crazy explosion of green firey stuff. And the explosion pretty much owned Grannel several times over. _"GUAAAAAAAAAA!"_ Grannel shouted, as waves of fire blasted him. He survived...barely. _"Guh..."_

And then the classic part: the barely alive evil person tries to kill the helpless good guy. Grannel aimed with his cannon, and...nothing happened.

_"Impossible!"_ Grannel shouted, looking at the cannon. _"He broke all of my parts?"_

_"Man, you're pathetic, Grannel. I _won_ my first fight with _no_ injuries at all."_

_"Shut UP!"_ Grannel shouted, whirling to face a silver robot. Who looked like...well, I have no clue how to describe it. _"If you haven't noticed, Wisel, you were fighting two girls with little combat ability at all. _I _was facing _TWO_ Origin Captains, the Mario Bros., _TWO_ Shining Stars, and several fools! How would you fare then?"_

_"Hey, don't ask me, I'm just the random Machine Emperor making a cameo. But seriously, you're the strongest of us. You should be able to do better,"_ Wisel said. _"By the way, isn't this a Mario story? Why are we, people based on YU-GI-OH!, in this story?"_

_"The author's idioticy," _Grannel replied offhandedly. _"Whatever. It's no longer important. We'd best head back to base for our next mission. By the way, aren't you going to absorb him?"_

_"Nah, my systems are acting weird. I don't know why,"_ Wisel said. _"So I can't do that. But let's go anyway; they might have something fun in store."_

Grannel turned towards Aeron. "_Another one falls to despair,"_ he sighed, and flew off with Wisel. But of course, Aeron was barely conscious and thew a tracker on Grannel. And you know the rest.

* * *

"That wasn't what I thought it'd be like," I commented.

"Let me guess: It was WAY WORSE than you thought," Aeron guessed. When he saw my shocked face, he said: "That happens a lot."

"Well, what now?" I asked. "Now Terra's gone, and we have no clue where to go."

"I think we'd better head back to Starship Mario for the time being," Aeron said. "That tracker should be working about now."

* * *

"ARE YOU FRICKIN' KIDDING?" Lubba shouted. "YOU'RE ASKING ME TO BELIEVE THAT YOU BATTLED A BOSS, BATTLED HIM AGAIN WITH A DAREDEVIL COMET, GOT OWNED BY SOME DEUS EX MACHINA, LOST TERRA TO SAID DEUS EX MACHINA, BATTLED THAT GUY AGAIN AND LOST, SAW THAT HE HAD A PARTNER, AND DIDN'T GET A SINGLE STAR FROM ANY OF THIS?"

"Yep," Luigi said innocently. "Cool story, huh?"

The galaxy practically exploded as Lubba made a sound far too primal and explosively enraged for comprehensive description at Luigi's comment.

"Everyone, calm down!" Ruka shouted. "We can't be arguing among ourselves now! The task at hand is far more important! We have to find out where Grannel went, and how to get Terra back!"

"Great. Cool story, br-no, I mean, sis," Leon said. "But there's just no way to find out where they went!"

"Is there now?" Aeron asked, grinning. He went up to the wheel and opened up the Holomap. And then, everyone saw a blinking red dot on the screen, slowly moving away from the Speed Star World.

"So that's the tracker?" I asked. "Then let's head after it!" I quickly stepped to the wheel and started up the engines, blasting away towards the red dot.

"Mario, are you sure you know what you're doing?" Luigi asked. "After all, they could very well be heading towards an asteroid field or something."

"In that case, we can just destroy the meteors!" I shouted. "And the-WHAT THE F*bleep*?" The red dot had stopped moving. No, check that. We could actually SEE Grannel. And he was floating (with Wisel) in front of a MASSIVE castle, which had Bowser's head adorned above the gates. The whole thing floated on a sea of lava contained inside a spiky shell-type thing.

"What's...that?" Ray asked. "Who would make something like that around here?"

I looked at the Holomap. "Bowser's Star Stronghold...It's Bowser!" I shouted. "So Bowser must have been their boss!" The Bowser statue's eyes glowed red, and the gate, which had a strange border that had a sun design, opened up, allowing Grannel and Wisel to enter. "Lubba, we HAVE to get in there!" I shouted. "We have to chase Grannel and get Terra back!"

"Okay, but what's your plan?" Lubba asked. "And if you haven't noticed, there's Grand Star energy coming from there." Axel, Aeron, Luigi and I were all shocked by this, but Ray interrupted before we could say anything.

"Who needs plans?" Ray asked, stepping up. "All we need is guts and power, and nothing can stand in our way!"

"Hey! You're right, Ray!" I shouted, slamming on a button and causing the Launch Star to appear, while Axel, Aeron and Luigi stared at me with open mouths. "Get ready, guys!" I shouted. "Time to pay Bowser back!"

"We're coming, too!" Aidan shouted.

"Wait, what?" Axel asked. "No, you guys shouldn't come. It's WAY too dangerous. And-"

"And we just let Ray put his neck on the line for us?" Holly asked. "No, we're coming too, to help Ray defeat 'Bowser'...whoever he is."

"Guys..." Ray said. "Okay, fine, you can come. We could use a bit of help. But..." He looked down. "I can't say for certain you'll be able to return safely."

"We can handle that," Ruka said. "Let's go!"

All of us blasted through the Launch Star. But we were halfway there when I noticed: The gate was beginning to close. "OH CRAP!" I shouted. "GUYS, THE GATE'S CLOSING! DO SOMETHING!"

"We'll _destroy_ the gate, then!" Aidan shouted. All the Sunstrikers raised their hands and blasted light at the gates, but it wasn't enough.

"_Ikazuchi Chikara!_" Aeron shouted, blasting it at one of the gates. We were able to zoom in before it could close, much too close to call. I was just glad I didn't lose anything.

The part that worried me, though, was this: Would we be able to find Terra and get out alive?

* * *

"WHOA!" Luigi shouted. "WHAT'S WITH THIS PLACE?" The inside of Bowser's castle was FAR too big to fit inside the castle. It was a red sky, and what appeared to be massive fireballs were floating in the air. Airships flew above, keeping a sharp eye on what was going on. Treacharous paths were dangerously close to the fireballs, and more paths raced in and around a menacing keep.

"Wow, Bowser's got style," Axel commented. "I thought he'd have only two tin cans and a dog."

"He's pathetic," Aeron muttered. "Take a look at AIZEN, for god's sake. Look what Aizen can do for a fortress!"

"Whatever," Axel muttered as we landed on a platform far away from the keep. "So...anyone know what to do now?"

"I say we head for the keep!" Ray shouted. "Let's go!" He began to run down the path, jumping over a Firebar (some row of fireballs) and hurrying up the path as it began to curve, defying gravity.

"Is there an easier way to get to the keep?" Luigi wondered, looking up at an arch hanging above us. He tried to climb up it, but it was really hard for him to get a good grip. Finally, Luigi pulled himself up to a space where he could stand around and breath a little. "This really is a bad idea," he groaned, reaching for the next ledge.

"Ya _think_?" Axel asked. "Now, let me see..." He looked around. "Hm...no, there isn't an easier way. Let's just go along the path." He began to run after Ray.

"Whoa...!" Ray shouted, stopping suddenly. Two suns were hovering dangerously close to the path, shooting out giant solar flares at each other. "Not cool."

"How are they hovering so close to the path?" Ruka asked. "Without crashing into each other, I mean."

"I think Bowser did something weird to those suns," Leon said. "They look like they should be at the end of their lifespan now, but..."

"Whatever, let's just get through them!" I shouted, running across the path.

"Mario, wait!" Aeron shouted. "Stars send out radiation, you know! There's no way to get through them without an ozone layer around you or other protection like that."

"So? Radiation isn't good enough to stop me!" I shouted, ducking under a flare. But now flames were licking just centimeters away from me, so I knew this would be tough.

"Why isn't the radiation burning him up?" Aidan wondered. "These are some _weird_ suns."

Almost immediately, a solar flare flew out and smashed into me, knocking me into the other sun. **"S*bleep*!"** I shouted.

* * *

_One revival through Shroom later..._

"Well, that sucked," I muttered.

"Dude, you're not doing it right!" Ray said. "_THIS_ is how you do it!" He ran towards the two suns, shouting some random battle cry which I will now omit because of its bizarreness.

**Authoritative Intervention by Axel Nightblazer: I will add it anyway! XD**

**"LEEEEEROOOOOOOOYYYYYY~ JEEEEEENNNKKKIIIIINNNS!"**

"Oh, WONDERFUL," Leon groaned, rolling his eyes. "Whenever Ray says **'LEEEEEROOOOOOOOYYYYYY~ JEEEEEENNNKKKIIIIINNNS!'**, everything goes wrong."

Ray rushed through the fire and flames, vaulting over flares, sliding underneath some more, and all the while not getting caught on fire. "Too easy!" he shouted, quickly sliding to the other side. "See, guys? It's so easy-" A solar flare suddenly smashed him in the butt. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~" Ray shouted.

"And there's the destined fail," Ruka muttered. "So...anyone got a plan to get across?"

"We do exactly like Ray did!" I shouted, jumping over solar flares and ducking under some others. And then, guess what? I was getting back up from a dive when _another_ solar flare smashed into me from the side. **"S*bleep*!"** I shouted again.

* * *

_Several thousand fails later..._

"OKAY, I GIVE UP!" I shouted. "I CAN'T GET OVER TO THE OTHER SIDE!"

"I say we just destroy the s-" Aidan began.

"DO YOU REALIZE WHAT THE H*bleep* WILL HAPPEN IF YOU DO THAT?" Holly shouted. "THE ENTIRE GALAXY WILL EXPLODE, KILLING ALL OF US. AND IS THAT A GOOD THING?"

"Yes," Aidan said flatly. "Because then, the bad guy will die, so-"

**WHAM!**

Aeron whacked Aidan over the head with a gravity hammer. "So...any good ideas?"

"I'll just do something _none_ of you guys thought of!" Axel replied. He held out his hand, pointing it at the suns. Chilling, light blue energy began to gather at his hand..."_Retsu Gesshoku!_ (Cold Moonlight)" Axel shouted, blasting an arrow of icy energy at the path between both suns, and it struck, causing ice to spread everywhere, all over the path and suns. "Fair warning," Axel said, walking up the icy path. "It's _very_ slippery here."

I was the last one to cross over. But suddenly, I heard a cracking and hissing. "Wait, what?" I asked, looking around. "What's going on?" All around me, the ice was beginning to break, and steam was rising up around me.

"Mario, move FAST!" Luigi shouted. "The ice's melting!"

"HOLY S*bleep*!" I shouted, running for my life. Now flames began to lick out of the expanding holes in the ice, and the holes were rapidly catching up to me!

"Can't you use some power up to get out of there?" Ray shouted.

"NO, BECAUSE THE FIRE FLOWER _OBVIOUSLY_ ISN'T SUITABLE FOR THIS SITUATION, THE MINI MUSHROOM WOULD JUST MAKE THINGS WORSE, THE ICE FLOWER WOULDN'T WORK BECAUSE THESE ARE BREAKING TOO FAST, THE HELICOPTER MUSHROOM WOULD JUST SEND ME FLYING UP INTO _THAT_ SUN-" I pointed up at a third sun that none of us bothered to notice that the Helicopter Mushroom would send me into most likely- "AND THE PENGUIN SUIT-"

*insert record scratch here*

"Wait, I think the Penguin Suit would work!" I shouted, reaching into my pocket and pulling out a suit that looked like a penguin. I quickly donned it and slid across the remaining ice on the path, carrying me to safety just as the suns began another blaze.

"You forgot your own power up's...er...power. Very interesting," Holly said sarcastically.

"Shut up! Even the awesome people make mistak-" I began.

"I don't suppose the wildlife is friendly here, is it?" Ruka interrupted, pointing.

"HEY! YOU CAN'T INTER-" I stopped. There were Pirahna Plants on the path ahead! "Whoa, he put Pirahna Plants here!" I shouted. "GIANT ones, in fact!"

And then the Pirahna Plants started spitting fireballs at us. "No, those aren't Pirahna Plants," Luigi shouted. "They're Venus Fire Traps! LOOK OUT!"

We ran as the Venus Fire Traps' fireballs exploded into massive blazes, and they began to charge up more. "What do we do?" Leon shouted. "There's no way for us to get past!"

"Then we _make_ one," Aeron replied. He held out his hand, and flames began to gather at his hand.

"WHAT THE H*bleep* ARE YOU DOING?" Leon shouted. "YOU CAN'T FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE!"

"Not ordinary fire, no," Aeron replied. "But creatures of earthly fire can do nothing against Celestial Fire!" At this point, the flames began to flare up erratically, creating an orange nimbus around his hand. "_Ryūsei no Kiwadachi!_ (Meteor Prominence)" he shouted, blasting three massive, flaming meteors at the Venus Fire Traps, causing them to wither up and die in the fire. "Okay, let's go!" Aeron shouted, running ahead, while the rest of us (except Axel) wondered how the heck he just defied logic.

* * *

(For some reason, Axel started playing "OZONE" by Vistlip at around this point. This is actually a song about love, so I have _no clue_ why the heck he'd listen to this anyway.)

_Ama no gawa ukabu se no hikui oka, miwatasu keshikira souzou to chigau.  
Ano koro to kurabe mae ni susumeta? Kotae wa "NO" ja nai, dakado tarinai.  
Ijiwaru no kami ga bokura tamesunda; kuuseki wo uzumete tsugi no suteeii e mukaou..._

As a low hill floats in the Milky Way, the scenery I see isn't what I pictured.  
Compared to back then, have you moved forward? The answer is "NO," but that's not enough.  
A sadistic god is testing us; let's fill those empty seats and move on to the next stage...

* * *

"Why are you listening to such a tranquil song at a time like this?" I asked Axel as we ran along the path. "Look where we're headed, for god's sake!" I pointed, showing that the path was skimming over the SURFACE OF A FRICKIN' STAR. (Or maybe a planet covered with lava. I don't know.)

"Good music always eases the tension for me," Axel replied, jumping to a chain dangling over the surface. And that was hanging from...a rock? A really BIG rock that was hanging above us, in fact.

"Okay, this is just a lava-covered planet, probably," Luigi said, jumping to the next chain. "Just don't fall into the lava, and you'll be fine."

But each jump between chains was a perilous one. Fireballs burst up from the lava every now and then, and the chains were a good 5 meters away from each other. Ruka jumped from the last chain onto a rock, but that rock began to topple immediately. "Uh oh!" she shouted, quickly jumping away to the next one. She barely grabbed onto the edge, but that one began to topple, too.

"Good going, Ruka, now we can't get over to the other side!" Aidan shouted. "Crap! What do we do?"

Suddenly, I saw a massive shell moving through the lava. It was a giant Buzzy Beetle, and those guys are lavaproof! "Let's jump on that!" I shouted, pointing at the Buzzy.

"Do you think it'll work?" Aeron asked.

"It'll have to; we can't hold on these forever," Luigi replied, swinging off his chain and landing on the Buzzy. "Guys, hurry!" he shouted. "And-WHAT THE F*bleep*?"

We looked up. Meteors were raining down from the sky, striking the lava and causing it to burst up in waves. The Buzzy was not affected, but Luigi had to jump over each wave. "Move quickly!" he shouted. "The meteors might cause that cliff to b-"

**CRUNCH!**

Almost immediately, the giant rock broke from the impact of the meteors. It began to fall down, with us heading towards the lava! "Quick! Let's get out of here!" Leon shouted. "Aeron, make a glacier or something!"

"_Hama Hyoketsu!_" Aeron shouted, freezing the lava into a glacier. We quickly ran across before the rock came and shattered most of it.

"Keep moving; this thing won't last for long," Axel said. "I'll use my own power to try and maintain it. Aeron, do something to get us closer to where that Buzzy's going."

While Axel attempted to refreeze sections of the glacier, Aeron used wind to send them closer to Luigi and the Buzzy. Luigi quickly helped me and the Sunstrikers up. "You almost died there," Luigi said.

"Well, the important thing is that I survived," I replied. "The meteor shower isn't over. Stay alert."

* * *

_"Donna kankei?" nante karetara, "Tomodachi ijou ka na..." Sore mo sukoshi chigau ka.  
"Kizuna" to iu kotoba ga fusawashii, kenkashiai nagara, wakachiai nagara.  
"Nee ima, doko?" "Chikyuun naka."  
Uchuuhikoushi ja nai kara, OZONE yori shita nara mondai nai.  
"Wakatteru, sugu iku."  
Asa made sawagitai no deshou...taisetsu na ibasho de._

Someone asks you "What's your relationship?" "A little more than friends..." that doesn't quite fit, though.  
The word "bond" fits perfectly, as we fall out with each other, understanding each other.  
"Say, where are you?" "On the Earth."  
And since we're no astronauts, If we're beneath the OZONE, then there's no problem.  
"Got it, I'm on my way."  
You must want to cause a ruckus until morning...in our special haven.

* * *

Ruka had a large collection of bruises and scrapes by the time she was able to get to us. "That was pure _Hell_," she groaned, climbing onto one of the few safe places on the planet.

"At least you got out alright," Luigi said. "Wait a minute, what's that noise?"

Suddenly, the lava began to bubble up all around us. "Um...is this a planet or a star?" Axel asked. "Because if it's a Star, I think it'll go supernova."

"WHAT?" all of us shouted. Streaks of fire began to shoot out randomly as the star/planet/whatever began to shake, sending us flying through the flames. I know I was screaming my head off at the time.

Ray landed on a rock, but a large chunk of the planet burst off, including that rock. "CRAP!" Ray shouted.

Aeron quickly used winds to get us all towards a large rock which was still intact, but the planet was rapidly exploding. "Guys, unless you all want to get barbacued, we gotta find a way out of here!" Leon shouted.

"Hey, is that a Launch Star up there?" Luigi asked, pointing.

*insert record scratch here*

"Wow, we were in danger for about 10 seconds, and already you ruin it. Good going, Luigi," I said sarcastically.

"...aren't we still in danger?" Luigi asked.

"Yeah, but this ruins it because we know how to get out of here now," I said. "So-"

"SHUT THE H*bleep* UP AND GET MOVING!" Aeron shouted, footstool-jumping me and blasting off with the Launch Star.

After a bit, we all finally got to the Launch Star and blasted off. "WHY THE H*bleep* DID YOU JUST FOOTSTOOL JUMP ME?" I shouted.

"To get you moving," Aeron replied. "Now, keep moving." At that point, we landed outside of the massive gates of the keep. But three massive chains were strung across the gate, with large stones keeping the chains in place. "Dang, he locked it."

"Whatever!" I shouted. "We can just use meteors to bust the locks!" I jumped up onto a hovering golden rock and kicked it at one of the three stones, smashing it to pieces. Another meteor was hovering above, which Luigi kicked at another. The last meteor was sent flying by Ray at the final stone, shattering it.

"Yes!" Ruka shouted. "It's open! Now, how do we open the gate?"

"By FIRIN' MAH LAZOR BLAAAAAAAAARRRGHHH!" Axel shouted.

The door had been blasted open. And we were all very, very fried. "Cough...good work, Axel," I groaned. "I think...wait...WHAT THE F*bleep*?"

*insert Duel of the Fates here*

"Holy crap, Terra's alive!" Luigi shouted, dusting himself off. "Wait, what're those green things on her?" Terra was just staring forward blankly, and green tethers were bound around her ankles, wrists, waist, and neck. It was almost as if she was a zombie or something!

"Um...Terra?" I asked. "Are you dead?"

And the response I got was a blast of emeralds. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~" I shouted. "WHAT THE CRAP?"

Another emerald went flying at me, but Ruka threw a card at it _and actually broke it in half_. "Something's not right here. Why's Terra attacking us?"

"Whatever the reason is, she doesn't look like she's gonna have any mercy! Look out!" Leon shouted.

* * *

**Boss: (Evil) Terra**

Axel did awesome parkour backwards to avoid Terra's Falcon Punch. "Terra, snap out of it!" he shouted. Terra only responded by sending another barrage of emeralds at him, which Axel destroyed with _Shiruba-Getsu_. "Aeron, got any ideas?"

"Let's try this!" Aeron shouted, charging up a sphere of light blue energy ."_Hyoketsu Bakuha!_ (Ice Blast) Aeron quickly fired a blast that froze Terra instantly. "That should've taken care of it," Aeron said.

"Um...wait...can that really hold a Shining Star?" I asked.

"...oh, s*bleep*," Aeron muttered as Terra broke out, shattering the ice into a bajillion pieces and smashing the ground with an earthquake. Aeron jumped over the whole thing and then attacked with _Tsubasa no Raioh,_ which Terra easily dodged.

"Take _this_!" Aidan shouted, blasting light at Terra, but she threw a storm of emeralds into the blast, both refracting the light and smashing him into the ground. Then Leon jumped at her, gathering light at his fist, but Terra punched him into a pillar (which broke) and then smashed the rubble into him.

Ruka drew five cards and threw them all at Terra. Terra began to generate emeralds to block them, but then Ruka sent a narrow beam of light flying at one card, which riccocheted to another, and then those riccocheted off the gems and other cards to smash Terra in the chest. "Yes!" Ruka shouted. "Wait...what?"

Terra recovered almost INSTANTLY and Falcon Punched Ruka into a pillar. Ruka screamed as the elemental force of Earth blasted emeralds point-blank into her and shook her with the force of a Magnitude 10 Earthquake. "Stop it!" Holly shouted, jumping at Terra, but Terra just kicked her aside, sending her flying into Luigi.

"I'll get her!" Ray shouted, jumping forward, light gathering at his hands in the shape of a falcon. "FALCON...PU-" Except Terra was using the same thing at the exact same time.

**EARTH SHATTERING KABOOOOOOOOOOM!**

Ray went hurtling to the ground in one direction, while Terra went flying in another. And then (**WARNING: EPIC FAIL**) Aeron jumped at Terra to attack...but missed and flew into some big Bowser statue outside the keep. Which fell down on him. "*bleep**bleep**bleep**bleep*!" Aeron shouted.

"You alright?" Axel asked, landing and blasting all the rubble off with _Tsukiren_.

"Yeah," Aeron said, getting up and dusting himself off. "Man, that was more embarrasing than the time when I was asked to do a mike test when I was 16. And I _still_ don't know how it happened!"

* * *

_-Aeron's Flashback to when he was 16 (note: this is based off of Card Games for Charity by Littlekuriboh)-_

_"Okay. Testing, testing, one two three," Axel said into a microphone. He looked around the stage. "Okay, everything seems to be working right. Aeron, why don't you check the other mike?"_

_"WHAT? BUT I JUST WIRED THE WHOLE THING!" Aeron shouted, pointing at a bunch of random speakers._

_"You did _half_ of it," Axel said. "And I did the_ other_ half. So, check the mike."_

_"Okay, okay, fine," Aeron muttered, turning on the mike. "Testing, testing, one two THREEEEEEEEEEEEE!" __(camera pans to outside of city)_

**_EARTH SHATTERING KABOOOOOOOOOOOM!_**

_Axel and Aeron lay smoking in the remains of the stage. "Cough...Aeron, I think I actually forgot to plug in the mike," Axel suddenly said._

_..._

_"...how the f*bleep* did that happen?" Aeron wondered._

* * *

"That was just about the most embarrasing moment of my LIFE," Aeron muttered.

"Hey, it could have been worse," Axel said. "And by the way, a green falcon is coming towards us AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~"

Terra immediately Falcon Punched both of them. "Well that was a fail," Leon muttered before jumping away from a spike of earth.

"No more of a fail than you could be!" Aeron shouted, jumping at Terra. "And I have everything figured out now!" He held up his hand, charging up light blue energy. "_Hama Hyoketsu!"_

A massive jet of ice blasted from Aeron's hand, freezing Terra in a massive glacier. "What's that gonna do-" Luigi began.

Axel interrupted by pointing his fingers at the ice, gathering silvery blue energy in each hand. "_Ketatamashi Getsu!"_

The piercing silver beams rushed forward, burning holes through the ice and blasting straight through the tethers. Axel turned and blew smoke off the tip of his right index finger. "Another enemy pierced," he said calmly as the ice shattered.

Terra groaned and began to get up. "Ugh...what happened?" She suddenly became aware of where she was. "Eh? O_O _NANI? _(WHAT?)"

"Terra! You're alright!" Luigi shouted, running over.

"Where _are_ we?" Terra wondered, standing up, completely bewildered by her surroundings. "I don't remember what hap-wait! Didn't Grannel absorb me?"

"Yeah, but you got better," Aeron said. "Because Grannel materialized you outside of his body, and because it takes a lot of time to destroy a Shining Star's soul, you didn't die."

"That's great, but..." Terra looked down. "I don't remember anything after that, so I have no idea where I am. Did you come to rescue me or something similar?"

"Yeah," I said. "But Lubba also detected a Grand Star here, so we didn't come solely for that purpose."

"I see," Terra said. She looked down at the ground, seeming a bit guilty. "Mario..._gomenosai._ I made you put your lives on the line for me again..."

"It's okay," Luigi said. "We do all sorts of things for friends! Okay, changing the topic...shall I start formulating our battle plan now?"

"That was _REALLY_ abrupt," Axel said. "But continue on, Luigi."

"Okay, here's the plan," Luigi said. "I will run in and make a swipe for the Grand Star; I will make an intimidating shout to scatter them. Then, uh...Terra, Ruka, you two scream or something to keep their numbers scattered. And Mario, Aeron, take on Bowser. Uh...Aeron, do you think this'll work?"

"It seems like a weak plan, but we don't have another," Aeron replied. "So I g-"

"Alright, time's up, let's do this!" Ray shouted, interrupting our plan. **"LEEEEEROOOOOOOOYYYYYY~ JEEEEEENNNKKKIIIIINNNS!"**

All of us watched with gaping mouths while Ray ran in. "Oh my god, he just ran in," I said.

...

"Save him!" Terra shouted, running after him. All of us sighed and ran after Terra.

"Okay, Bowser, here we come!" I shouted, jumping into the keep. Finally, a rematch with Bowser for ruining the Star Festival again-

*insert record scratch here*

We looked around to see TONS of enemies surrounding us (Ray apparently plowed a path through that quickly closed up after him). "..." The enemies bared their teeth or stuff like that.

**"CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!"** we all shouted, running outside. Talk about anticlimatic ending.


	21. A Streaming Star Appears

**Leaving friends behind is no easy thing to do. Even if a universe's fate rests on your shoulders, if they aren't by your side, things feel hollow.**

**When it finally came time to leave the Region of Light, Ray's friends wanted to take a different path from us. While it was his duty to protect the universe, Ray found the decision painful: his old friends or the universe?**

* * *

**Traveler's Log 018: A Streaming Star Appears**

**Stars: 16**

**Ray**

* * *

The Region of Light is behind us now. Bowser's Star Stronghold is in ruins. Another Grand Star was obtained. And we're one step closer to saving the universe.

So why am I not happy?

Saving a universe is MUCH more dangerous than you'd think. Unlike in those "Save the World" stories, people can actually DIE here. So I had to leave behind the most important thing to me…my friends.

I hope I make it through this thing alive. I really hope I can make it back to my friends…

* * *

_This is it!_ I thought, dashing across the path, using parkour to quickly get past the Mooks in my way. _We're going to challenge the Big Bad and save our home! This is what they get for trashing the Speed Star World, for kidnapping Terra, for…wait, what?_ "…guys?" I asked, looking backwards. Everyone else was behind me, battling every single Mook I had left behind. "Oh crap! Sorry, guys!" I shouted, firing a bunch of beams from my hand and destroying several Mooks. But there were just too many…

Terra used a bunch of Mooks as a footstool to jump up next to me. "Ray, please don't leave us behind again," she said gently. Then she suddenly swayed and began to topple over.

"Whoa!" I caught her. "Terra, are you alright? You look as pale as a ghost!"

"I'm alright," Terra replied, standing up again with the help of a pillar nearby. "I don't know why, but I feel really tired right now…"

"Maybe it's because a Deux en Machina took you over and you just got released from his influence?" I suggested.

"Maybe," Terra said, taking a few more strides. She pointed at the Mook infested area beneath us, causing a massive earthquake that destroyed all of them. Terra swayed again, but regained her balance. I guess an attack of that magnitude must have been really taxing on her. "Guys, come on, we're going now."

Ruka ran up to me, and I could tell by her look I was most likely screwed. "Why the heck did you leave us behind? Do you realize what we just went through?"

"Um…uh…I…uh…heh heh…" I quickly ran off to get as far away as possible before Ruka could unleash her wrath.

Several suns stood at each tower of the keep, and a massive one hovered high above. There appeared to be a metallic planet hovering between it and the keep. I looked at the suns, wondering why the heck this Bowser guy would need suns anyway. _Maybe it's to brighten up his day,_ I thought to myself, and smirked at the thought. "Come on, guys!" I shouted, running up a staircase.

Axel quickly jumped to the top of the staircase. "Try to move a bit faster," he cast over his shoulder, before running across a catwalk hanging above a sun. A bunch of Goombas jumped at him, one at a time, but Axel gave a few quick chops and sent them flying over the edge. "Come on, is that the best he's got?" Axel muttered.

"Apparently, yes," Aeron replied, smirking. "I guess all of Bowser's troops are pathetic-ZOH MAH GOD!"

A big…concrete…block…with a face…and arms…and feet…was standing above us. He roared randomly and FELL OVER, flattening us. "AUGH S*bleep**bleep**bleep**bleep**bleep*!" Aidan shouted.

* * *

_One revival for each of us via 1-UP mushroom later…_

"Owww…" Ruka groaned. "What was that? And who knew concrete hurt that much?"

"Ano…it DOES hurt when you fall on it," Terra noted. (She was the ONLY one who DIDN'T get hit by that thing.)

"But when IT falls on YOU?" Holly asked. "Aren't things kind of backwards there?"

"That's a Thwomp," Mario explained. "And it attacks by falling on you. But this is how you defeat it." He dashed towards the Thwomp head-on.

"WHAT THE F*bleep* ARE YOU DOING?" Aeron shouted, freaking out anime style (complete with vein throbbing).

The Thwomp roared and attempted to fall down on Mario, but Mario raced towards his legs and at the last second, suddenly landed on his back and slid underneath the Thwomp, allowing it to crash behind him. Then Mario backflipped and did a Ground Pound, destroying the piece of concrete. "Ha! Take that you big concrete block! :D" Mario shouted. "Come on, guys, let's keep going. Wonder what's in the next room?"

"Hey, guys, look, it's one of the Stars Grannel took from us earlier!" Leon shouted, pointing at a machine in the next room that appeared to be supplying power to one of the suns. He blasted an intense beam of light, breaking the machine, and grabbed the Star. "Got it!"

**WE GOT A STAR!**

"Um…you know Bowser's keeping a Grand Star in this castle, right?" Luigi asked.

*insert record scratch here*

"Wait, what?" Aidan asked. "What's that about?"

"Well, a Grand Star is a more powerful Star which will allow us to travel to another Region," Mario said. "And it has so much power that it is very _bad_ if Bowser has it."

"So we have to go grab the Grand Star," Aeron said. "Guys, could you bring the Star back to Starship Mario? We'll grab the Grand Star."

"Okay! You can count on us," Holly replied. The Sunstrikers all placed their hands on the Star, and it began to glow, ready to take them back to the Starship

But then Ruka looked back at me. "Coming, Ray?" she asked, an air of concern suddenly entering her voice.

My heart suddenly skipped several beats. I never really thought of this part: When my friends take different paths, which one would I take? "Uhhhh…" I didn't know what to say.

Pretty much everyone was looking at me. "Ray, you can go back with your friends if you want," Terra told me gently.

"Yeah, but…" For once in my life, I found myself actually stammering. "I…um…"

"What's going on?" Mario asked. "What's the tough decision? It's a simple question, right? Do you want to help us get the Grand Star, or send the Star back to Starship Mario?"

"I just never thought about this," I said quietly. "I don't know where to go."

We were silent for several long moments, and then Terra finally tapped me on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Ray," she said. "We'll be alright against Bowser."

And then I realized. The Sunstrikers were risking their lives for my new friends, just because of me. And if Bowser was _too_ powerful for even Axel and Aeron, their efforts would have been for nothing, and then…would I be able to face my friends who trusted me the same way as I had before? "I'll battle Bowser!" I declared.

All the Sunstrikers gasped. "But…" Ruka began. "Ray, don't you want to come with us?"

"You're risking your lives for the sake of them," I said, gesturing to Mario and co. "But if Bowser can't be stopped, then all your efforts will have been in vain. I'm going to take Bowser down and make sure he can never hurt this place again!"

"Ray…" Ruka sighed sadly. "Alright, but come back alive, okay?"

"I promise," I replied. "I'll beat Bowser up good for you guys!"

Ruka, Leon, Aidan, and Holly looked unhappy to leave, but each of them gave me a thumbs-up. Then the Star finally rocketed back to Starship Mario. As soon as the golden light faded, Aeron walked next to me. "You made a very painful choice," he commented.

"Yeah," I agreed. "I never thought I could leave my friends like that."

"Don't worry," Aeron reassured me. "Bonds can extend all the way across a universe. They're flexible things. You'll see your friends again."

I wondered to myself if I'd really be able to see them again, but then those thoughts were interrupted by Terra saying, "Um…we're almost at the tower. But…uh…we'd better remain quiet."

"No worries!" I shouted, and quickly put my back against the wall. "FALCON SNEAK!"

"R-Ray!" Terra whispered, with a horrified look on her face. "W-We have to be quiet! Don't-"

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing!" I shouted, before inching a bit further, back still against the wall. I was almost at the corner… "FALCON SNEAK! FALCON SNEAK! FAL-"

**WHAM!**

"OWIE!" I shouted, going flying from a punch.

"WHO THE F*bleep* IS SHOUTING 'FALCON SNEAK!' GOD D*bleep*IT!" Shade shouted, running from around the corner.

"AUGH! SHADE!" Mario shouted, running at his clone. "DIE DIE DIE!" We all watched as Shade just stuck out his hand and stiff-armed Mario, who was randomly flailing his arms and legs at him.

"…do we really have to fight Shade _now_?" Aeron grumbled. "God, he has horrible timing. He should've waited until AFTER the boss fight."

"Screw this, IMA FIRIN MAH LAZOR BLAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGGGHHH!" Axel shouted, blasting a lazor into the sky and then causing it to crash down, frying Shade and Mario.

"Cough…" both of them fell over, unable to keep battling.

"Um…Axel…are you really a farmer in Malasia?" Terra asked, sweatdropping. (NOTE: "IMA FIRIN MAH LAZOR!" sounds strangely like "I'm a farmer in Malasia!")

"Wha-no! Where the heck did that come from?" Axel shouted (with white anime eyes). Terra looked incredibly embarrassed after that.

Luigi sighed, grabbed Shade, and stuffed him in a nearby closet. Then he grabbed a Shroom and put it in Mario's mouth, causing him to jump up and shout "Let's-a-go!" as if he was all better. (He got better from Axel's lazor, too.) "WAIT, WHERE THE F*bleep* DID SHADE GO?"

"I defeated him. :D" Axel said smugly. "So, shall we keep going?"

"Yeah, okay-Hey guys, look! It's a hangar!" Mario shouted. "And there's an airship! Let's go hijack it!"

* * *

_Later…_

Mario spun, launching a Goomba off the side of an Airship. "Geez! Jumping on the Airship wasn't a good idea! I'm going to own whoever came up with it!"

Terra jumped onto the Airship just as it began to rise out of the hangar. "Wait, Mario, _you_ were the one who came up with that idea!"

"In other words, you gotta own yourself. :D" Luigi said, with an epic smug face.

"…OOF! S*bleep* *bleep* *bleep*!" And so, for no apparent reason, Mario spent a few minutes owning himself by _kamikaze_ing into a bunch of Goombas.

"Sigh…" Axel muttered something and ran into the cabin. "Ray, come on, let's bust some heads."

"Right!" I shouted, running inside. A bunch of Koopas whirled around, ready to fight, except I went _SHORYUKEN_ on them (yeah, I play Street Fighter :D), sending them flying into the walls. "Awesome, right?" I asked Axel, grinning.

"Yes, your _Shoryuken_ was impressive," Axel replied offhandedly, grabbing a Koopa and throwing him over his shoulder. "Now come on!" He grabbed the Koopa at the wheel and then raised his sword. "Rule over the Midnight Heavens, _Shiruba-Getsu_!" he shouted, and then punched the Koopa while the blue-silver energy was still swirling around his left fist. The gauntlet quickly materialized, and the blade followed, skewering the Koopa and exploding it into Star Bits.

"Okay, hold on. HIYAH!" I threw out my hands, blasting a massive light wave that wiped out all the rest of the people at the systems. "Awesome, huh?"

"Yes, yes, very awesome, good work, and all that stuff," Axel said, grabbing the wheel. "I have no clue how to drive this thing, so EVERYONE HOLD ON!" Axel quickly drove the Airship towards the tower at the top of the castle, which the metallic moon hovered above, as well as the main sun.

"Um, Axel, you know where the brakes are, right?" I asked, noticing how fast we were going. If we kept going this fast, then we would…

"Nope," Axel said, his face paling. "Shall we abandon ship?" I quickly nodded, and Axel shouted to Mario, Luigi, Aeron, and Terra: "ABANDON SHIP!"

We all jumped off the deck (well, Axel and I jumped out of the windows) and landed on a catwalk just as the Airship flew headlong into the tower and impaled itself inside, cracking the tower greatly. "…Whoa…" Luigi said finally.

"If I had a license for that thing, I would have lost it today," Axel commented. Quickly changing the topic, he added, "Okay, we're not too far away, so we can easily get to the top of the t-" (I got bored with the planning about here.)

"Alright, time's up, let's do this! LEEEEEROOOOOOOOYYYYYY~ JEEEEEENNNKKKIIIIINNNS!" I shouted, jumping and grabbing onto the edge of the smoldering wreck of the Airship, running across it, and throwing myself at the tower. At the last second, I grabbed onto a ledge and planted my feet firmly on the side of the tower, beginning to climb up.

"GIVE US A BREAK, RAY!" Mario shouted, as they jumped at the Airship. But then, suddenly, there was a massive quake. "Wait, what?" Mario shouted, looking up. "OH NO, IT'S-"

"TIME TO DIE, 'HEROES'!" I heard. I looked up and saw a massive…uh…dragon in a spiky turtle shell? He had fiery red hair, four short horns sticking out of the top of his head, and yellow skin. And he was firing meteors from his mouth. Wait, what?

"HOLY S*bleep*!" Aeron shouted, jumping away as the meteors smashed into the catwalk, blasting it to smithereens. Terra, Mario, and Luigi jumped to another catwalk, while Axel and Aeron jumped onto the ship.

"There's no escape!" the dragon in the turtle shell shouted, blasting meteors at both the catwalk and the Airship. The meteors smashed into both, causing them to crumble.

I quickly scrambled to climb up the tower. That guy was going to kill us all! "DIE DEMON!" I shouted, jumping onto the top of the tower and gathered light around my fist in the shape of a falcon. "FALCON PUUUUUNCH!"

"AUGH!" the dragon shouted, stumbling backwards from the force of the attack. "Urf…heh! So the Shining Stars are here, eh?"

Terra, Mario, Luigi, Axel and Aeron all arrived at the top of the tower. "Time's up, Bowser! Give us the Grand Star!" Mario shouted.

"Wait, hold on, _THAT'S_ Bowser?" I shouted. "Seriously, I expected he would be a man! Although, now that I think of it, Bowser is a weird namAAAAAAAAAUGGGH!"

"SHUT UP! MY NAME ISN'T WEIRD!" Bowser shouted, blasting meteors at me. "But you're too late to stop me now!"

"Say, what ARE you trying to do with the Grand Star, anyway?" Luigi asked. "Could you tell us?"

"Ha! As if I'd be that stupid!" Bowser replied. "Everyone knows that if you tell your enemies your plans, they'll use that info against you!"

"Oh come on, does that mean you're scared? :3" Aeron asked, smirking. "Gee, I never thought that the mighty Bowser would be a ch-"

"WHAT? ARE YOU CALLING ME A CHICKEN? WELL, SHOWING YOU MY PLANS WON'T AFFECT THEM ANYWAY!" Bowser shouted. (Aeron: :3) "If you must know, I'm using the Grand Star to create suns so that I use them as weapons! One supernova can create a lot of destruction!"

"And what's THAT?" Axel asked. "To shine so much light on us that we dry up and die?"

"No!" Bowser shouted, savoring his triumph. "By destroying galaxies and other matter, I can obtain enough _kishi _(matter) and_ reishi_ (spirit particles) to be able to DESTROY THE ENTIRE (I spaced out for several thousand unnecessary words for emphasis) UNIVERSE!"

**DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUN!**

"_Destroy_ the universe?" Mario shouted. "Bowser, that's CRAZY! Why would you want to destroy it? What about your kids? Your troops! Everything you have! What'll happen to all of them?"

"They'll be spared from the destruction of THIS universe," Bowser replied, smirking. "But you WON'T, Mario Bros.! And…uh…all of your friends, too!"

"Ano…but what about Princess Peach?" Terra asked. I gave her a surprised look, because no one told me ANYTHING about princesses. "Why would you need to kidnap her?"

"Peach and Hanna Bladesinger both are Fullbringers," Bowser explained. "I shall use their power to help me in the second step: creating my NEW universe!"

"Wait, what's a Fullbringer?" Luigi asked.

"Something you'll never understand," Bowser replied. "Because they have the power to pull on the songs of everything that exists, allowing them to change the properties of whatever! In other words, they have almost divine influence over their surroundings! Therefore," Bowser clenched his fist. "Their powers will allow me to create a new universe using the ashes of this one!"

"Dude, that plan's just _twisted_," I commented. "In other words…we gotta stop this guy at all costs!" I raised my fists, ready to battle.

"BWAHAHAHA!" Bowser guffawed. "Interesting. But it's no use; you can't defeat me with the power you have. I'll show you that…by stomping you into space bits! Here! And! Now!"

Bowser let out a primal roar and stomped the ground with all his might. And before we knew it, we were all sent flying into the air, towards the metallic moon above. "WTF?" Aeron shouted. "HOW DID WE GET HERE?"

"Bowser's just THAT physically strong," Luigi explained. "Watch out for his attacks; he really packs a punch!"

* * *

**Boss: Bowser**

"Get ready for the pounding of your life!" The Koopa King shouted as he came flying down to the moon right after us. And as soon as he landed, a blue wave of light burst from the ground around him and pulsed out, surging across the surface of the moon towards us.

"? _Nani_?" Terra shouted, before we all jumped over the wave. Bowser made a flying leap at us, and we moved out of the way, but then another blue wave burst out of the ground, slamming us off our feet.

"GWAHAHAHA!" Bowser shouted, stomping and creating yet another blue wave. Then he jumped high into the air, and bronze-colored energy accumulated at his hand. "EAT DIRT, MARIO BROS!" he shouted, throwing the energy down. It smashed into the metal surface of the moon…and EARTH spikes sprang out of the ground.

"WTF?" I shouted, jumping out of the way. "This moon is METAL! How did he create EARTH?"

"That's something you'll never be able to comprehend," Bowser replied as he landed, creating yet another blue wave. "But how about THIS!" He stomped the ground, and roared. And then, light began to radiate from inside his mouth.

"CRAP! AERON, GET THE TACOS!" Axel shouted, moving to get a safe distance away from Bowser. "Wait, we have some, right?"

Aeron quickly dug through their pack which I never noticed they had before. And came up empty handed. "Uh…Axel? Where did they go exactly?"

"I don't kno…s*bleep*," Axel muttered. "Pikachu, I am going to kill you when you get back!"

"IF YOU EVER SEE HIM AGAIN!" Bowser shouted, before blasting a massive laser from his mouth. We all launched ourselves out of the way, allowing the massive beam to blast through the air and fry whatever it hit. "See how many you can take!" Bowser laughed, shooting laser after laser at us. "Come on, show me what little power you have! It would be _boring_ if you couldn't put up a little bit of a fight!"

"If it's excitement you want, then we can give you _plenty_ of that!" Aeron shouted, running at him. "Rule over the Raging Heavens, _Tsubasa no Rai-oh_!" The green and gold sword was racing at Bowser even before it finished its release. "And for good measure," Aeron shouted, raising his other hand to his blade. Green winds began to swirl around it, charging it with the might of green winds. "_REPPUZAN!_"

But to our shock, Bowser caught the blade, even when the razor-sharp gales were charging its blade. "What did I say?" he asked, grinning maliciously. "You can't defeat me with the power you have." And with that, he swung his hand around, throwing Aeron several meters away.

"Take THIS, then!" Mario shouted, holding up a Rock Mushroom and biting into it. Rocks quickly covered his body, and he gathered more to become a boulder, which rushed at Bowser quickly.

"Come on, Mario, you know you can't defeat me with THAT!" Bowser shouted, delivering a Megaton Punch to the boulder. Mario was sent flying, and his rock armor was smashed into pebbles. "When you use earth," Bowser continued, "you use it like THIS!" He raised his hand, and bronze energy once more accumulated in it. Then he blasted the energy and spikes rushed up, racing to impale Mario.

"Don't talk about to us about using earth the right way!" Terra shouted, thrusting her hand forth. The earth spikes suddenly halted, and Terra thrust her hand forth and sent them all flying at Bowser.

Bowser dodged each one, and began to advance. But guess what? For some reason, EVERY FRICKIN' STEP HE TOOK CREATED ONE OF THOSE BLUE WAVES! "HOLY S*bleep*!" I shouted, jumping over wave after wave. "I don't know what's going on, but I'm gonna put a stop to it!" I rushed at Bowser and blasted beams of light as fast as I could at him.

"_You_, put a stop to _me_?" Bowser scoffed. "Don't make me laugh!" He ducked into his shell and quickly spun around, smashing into me and sending me flying so fast I orbited the moon three times!

"Try this, then!" Axel shouted, jumping at him. "_Tsukiren_!" He punched Bowser in the face and blasted him backward with a massive jet of silver energy. "Yes!" Axel shouted. "That got hi-WHAT?"

Bowser emerged from the smoke, grinning…and completely unharmed. "Come on, don't let me repeat myself!" he shouted, and then he stomped the ground (another wave) and jerked his head up. Except then I noticed there was an orange glow in his mouth…

"You won't even be able to _talk_ after this!" Aeron shouted, running for Bowser and swirling water around _Tsubasa no Rai-oh_. "_Uzumaki Kyouran!_" And a cascade of water went blasting towards Bowser…

Bowser just smirked and stomped the ground, and then a wave blasted out, repelling the water. And then the Koopa King let out a maniacal laugh before blasting many meteors into the sky. "Oh, dear, what's this? I think it'll rain today," Bowser laughed. "That is, METEOR rain!" And with that, the meteors began to crash into the ground, and THEY created THEIR OWN waves!

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH~" Mario screamed his head off, running away from the meteors. But then a wave smashed into him, and he fell to the ground, stunned.

"Mario!" Luigi shouted. He dove out of the way of a meteor, and then quickly pulled out of his pocket an orange shroom with yellow circles on either side. But wait, what? An orange brim (like a cap) stuck out in front of its eyes, and there were YELLOW HELICOPTER BLADES on it! Luigi took a bite out of the shroom, and instantly was clad in a green jumpsuit with a helmet that had a propeller on top of it, and L on either side! "Let's fly!" Luigi shouted, spinning with the power of his Luma and blasting high into the air, gracefully gliding out of the way of each meteor. He descended quickly, grabbed Mario, and then ascended before a wave could hit him.

"Whoa! Cool!" I shouted. "Luigi, can I have one of those?" I quickly jumped away from one meteor and OFF another.

"If you live long enough to obtain one!" Bowser shouted, jumping so high into the air that HE WAS ACTUALLY ABOVE US. "Take this! BOWSER BOMB!" And before Luigi and I could do anything, we were smashed into the ground by his spiked shell. (Luigi's Propeller Suit was smashed to pieces by this.)

"AUGH!" Mario shouted (remember that he was being carried by Luigi?). "Bowser, you're heavier than you were last time! What the heck have you been eating lately?"

"SHUT UP MARIO!" Bowser shouted, jumping up and stomping again, creating another wave. We all screamed and ran away from it.

Terra jumped at Bowser and created twin emerald blades, which she slashed at Bowser with. Bowser began to take steps back, dodging or parrying her blows. And if he took steps back…you know what happens by now, right? "How can he make those energy waves?" Terra wondered. "Does Bowser really have that power?"

"I don't think so," we suddenly all heard Aeron boldly call out. "Because if he did, then the meteors wouldn't be able to create those waves!"And then a green and gold _reiatsu_ filled the air. "I'll show you!" Aeron shouted. "This is my power, Bowser! _BANKAI_!"

A green beam of energy shot…whichever way was up for Aeron…and actually disappeared into the depths of darkness in the Star Stronghold. Then, there was a golden flash, and a golden lightning bolt surged back, crashing into Aeron, followed by more bolts. Great storm clouds began to gather in the distance. Suddenly, ice began to spike up where the lightning bolts hit, freezing some of the energy as it continued to grow. "What?" Bowser shouted. "What is this?"

I followed his gaze, and saw, to my shock, that waves were coming from the tower of ice! "HOLY CRAP!" I shouted, jumping over it.

Meanwhile, the ice continued to grow. The colossus of ice struck the tower we had stood on earlier, and ice began to spread across that. Several ice spikes touched other portions of the Star Stronghold, freezing THEM over. Even the SUNS were being frozen! "No! No!" Bowser shouted in horror. "My Star Stronghold!"

"Fake suns will never defeat my _Tsubasa no Rai-oh_," we heard, though we couldn't tell where it came from. And then, the tip of the obelisk of ice broke, revealing Aeron, holding a new sword. "_Bankai._ _Senkei, Kage no Rai-oh_! (Final release. Slaughterscape, Thunder King's Shadow!)"

"You!" Bowser shouted, furious. "What have you done?"

"I appear to have put a spanner in the works in your best laid plans," Aeron replied, and suddenly appeared in front of Bowser. "Take this! _Reppuzan_!"

"Ha! Nothing's going to happen! You still can't cut me, no matter how much you increase your power!" Bowser laughed, raising his hands to block it.

Aeron grinned. "Who said I was aiming for _you_, Bowser?" And suddenly, he somersaulted into the air, launching the intense winds AT THE PLANET!

"WHAT? NO!" Bowser shouted. "IF THAT MOVE MATCHES THE FORCE OF MY WEIGHT, THEN-"

"Oh, so if we strike the planet with enough force, a wave will appear?" Terra asked.

"CRAP! NO, NO, NO, NO, THAT'S NOT THE CASE! NOTHING WILL HAPPEN IF YOU DO THAT!" Bowser lied. (Too late. :D)

Terra raised her fist, and green energy in the shape of a falcon burst from it. She jumped high into the air, and then raced towards the planet. "HAAAAAAAAAH!"

Twin waves blasted out from Terra and Aeron's attacks, both rushing towards Bowser. "No!" Bowser attempted to jump over all of them, but then Mario and Luigi both ground-pounded, sending two MORE waves blasting out. "Impossible! I can't be defeated!" Bowser shouted, jumping over all the waves.

"Corn!" I shouted, jumping above him.

"OH SHI-" Bowser began before I footstooled him, sending him crashing into the planet and getting hit by all four waves. "AUGH!" Bowser went spinning across the planet on his shell.

"Get ready, Luigi!" Mario shouted, running after the spinning Bowser. He caught up and quickly spun, sending Bowser flying and crashing into the floor.

"Got it!" Luigi shouted, jumping over the waves and grabbing Bowser's tail. Then he began to slowly drag Bowser in a circle around him, rapidly picking up speed, until Bowser was actually flying, only kept from takeoff by Luigi's grip. "Bon Voyage, Bowser!" Luigi shouted, tossing Bowser away.

"OOOF!" Bowser shouted, crashing into the ground. "Urgh…" he growled as he got up. "NOW you've asked for it!" he roared, stomping the floor. And he began to spin around, launching large fireballs.

"Wait, Bowser can breathe fire?" I shouted, throwing myself out of the way of the fireballs. "Aren't meteors enough?"

"Yeah, he can," Luigi said. "You know, if he's a dragon, I think it would be pretty obvious."

"BUT HE HAS A TURTLE SHELL, SO HE'S NOT A REAL DRAGON!" I shouted. "AND HE DOESN'T HAVE WINGS, EITHER! SO-"

"SHUT UP!" Bowser shouted, holding up a massive ball above his head made of…Goombas?

"_Nanda korewa_?" Terra shouted. "Why would he have Goombas with him? And more importantly," she wondered. "Where did they come from?"

"I carry them with dimensional power!" Bowser explained. "In other words, I can allow them to appear by my side if I feel I need them!"

"In other words," Axel sighed. "I believe we'll be seeing a Mass Mook Charge." Some random fireball suddenly crashed into him from behind. "OWWWWIEEE!" Axel shouted, but he quickly put out the fire.

"Go, Goombas!" Bowser shouted, tossing the ball behind him and pointing at us. "Attack the heros!" The Goombas began shouting things in random languages and swarmed us. But strangely, Bowser punched several high into the air.

"Quick! Luigi! Get the Fire Flower!" Mario shouted. Luigi nodded, and grabbed the Fire Flower, and the two quickly became Fire Mario and Fire Luigi. They began blasting fireballs at the Goombas, knocking them out. "Yeah!" Mario shouted. "Goombas can't stop us!"

"Mario," Bowser chuckled. "Don't you know the nature of my Goomba Storm? What happens when the Goombas get punched?"

"Wait…" Mario looked up. "WHAT THE F*bleep*?" All of us looked up, and our jaws dropped. The Goombas that Bowser punched were coming down like meteors! They were even FLAMING!

Axel quickly whipped up his hand and gathered silver energy at his finger. "_Ketatamashi Getsu_!" He blasted several slended beams of light, sniping the Goombas out of the air.

"YOU LET DOWN YOUR GUARD!" Bowser shouted triumphantly, and then we ALL were hit in the back by massive lasers of light. Bowser didn't even give us a chance to recover before he jumped into the air, landed and created a wave, then sprang off the ground almost immediately and stomped again in another place, sending a second wave. And then he hurled bronze energy, causing spikes to rush up towards us. "My power is ultimate!" Bowser shouted. "You'll NEVER be able to stop me, Mario Bros!"

"Augh…" I watched the waves and spikes come closer. "Is this it? Did we come all this way for nothing?"

"It's not over!" I heard suddenly. I turned to see a yellow Luma hovering nearby. "Ray, hope's not lost completely!"

"You're one of the guys who were on Starship Mario," Axel said, looking very surprised. "What're you doing here?"

"I actually followed after you to see if you were in any sort of trouble," the Luma explained. "Ray, you can still win with my help!"

"Your help?" I asked skeptically. "But what's going to happen?"

"You'll see!" the Luma shouted, and he began to glow brightly, suddenly going into the symbol on the back of my jacket.

Suddenly, a new power coursed through my body. I felt my energy returning, and my pain washing away. And a white aura surrounded me now… "Whoa!" I shouted. "Is this the power the Luma gave me?"

"Yeah!" Mario shouted. "But the spikes are coming up, so DO SOMETHING QUICK!"

"Right!" I shouted. I jumped into the air, and a white falcon appeared around me. I concentrated my light power into my fist, but could tell something else was boosting it even further. _Thanks, man,_ I thought to the Luma. "Falcon! PUNCH!" I shouted, flying downward and striking the planet with BOTH fists.

Two waves rushed out, one from each fist, and crashed into Bowser's waves, cancelling them out. I got ready to blast the spikes to pieces. "Take this!" I shouted, blasting the spikes to pieces.

"Impossible!" Bowser shouted. "Dang! It's those pesky Lumas' powers!" He began to charge up to fire meteors again…

"You won't be firing meteors after THIS!" Axel shouted, raising his sword. "_BANKAI_!" And then, silver winds burst up around him, and a blue-silver laser from the sky crashed into him.

"WHAT IS IT NOW?" Bowser shouted, dodging the wave that came. I quickly took this opportunity to punch the planet, emitting a wave that smashed into him, sending him flying. "AUGH!" Bowser shouted, spinning around on his shell.

"Okay, Axel! He's coming to you!" Mario shouted, spinning Bowser towards the beam of light. "Wait, WHAT THE F*bleep*?" Up above use, the clouds of Aeron's _Bankai_ were clearing to reveal a moonlit sky! "WHEN DID IT BECOME NIGHT?" Mario shouted.

"When the _god_ of night descends," we heard. And then the laser dispelled, and great angel wings flapped. Axel rose, holding two new swords connected by a chain. "_Bankai. Doki no Shiruba-Getsu!_ (Silver Moon of Wrath) Prepare for ownage, Bowser…BY MAH LAZOR BLAAAAAAAAAAAARRGGHH!"

A massive silver laser appeared in front of Axel and fired at the moon, and then the moon went FULL and sent it flying back, coursing with blue energy. It crashed hard into Bowser, frying him. "AUGH!" Bowser shouted. "Urf…" he emerged from the blast greatly burned. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!" he roared, jumping into the air as he did so.

"Guys, I think he's P*bleep*!" I shouted as Bowser brought out another ball of Goombas. "And he's bringing out the Goombas again!"

"They're no problem this time," Axel said, flapping his wings. Feathers shot out like missiles from his wings, crashing into the Goombas as they charged. Bowser prepared another Goomba ball, but then Axel thrust out his swords, and a giant clock with Roman numerals appeared behind him. The hour hand was pointed at XII, and the minute hand at VII. (Yeah, wierd.) "_Shichi __no __Mayonaka! _(The Seventh of Midnight)" he shouted, and water began to swirl in front of him, combining in three streams to form a creature with two wing-like fins, giant claws, an arrow-shaped head, and large talons. "_Kaiyou no Kyouran_! (Ocean's Fury)" The creature roared and surged forward, tearing at the Goomba ball with its fangs and claws, and then a huge tsunami followed, scattering them. Bowser had fallen from the attack, and was just trying to get up when the creature swept around and attacked from behind, tearing at Bowser with its fangs once more and obliterating the Goombas with the wave of water that followed.

"Argh...But you forgot the guys who're falling like meteors!" Bowser shouted, pointing up. "And the REAL meteors, too!" Apparently, he actually fired meteors while we weren't looking.

"What meteors?" Aeron asked. "_Nagareboshi_!" He blasted a white fireball up, destroying all of them in a fiery explosion.

"Argh…" Bowser growled. "This isn't fair! How can you be countering all my attacks?"

"Because we're just awesome like that," Luigi replied, holding up the Ice Flower and allowing its spores to land on him. "Bowser, you look stressed out. Why don't you take a chill for a moment?"

"I concur," Aeron agreed as Luigi launched blasts of ice, quickly freezing Bowser in a block of ice. "_Hama Hyoketsu!_" And then, a GLACIER stood in front of us. Bowser was trapped inside.

"_Boruto no Kage_!" Axel shouted, raising his swords. The blades crackled with dark blue lightning and blasted Bowser, shocking him (I think it hurt, but because he was frozen, I have no clue. ^_^)

"GRAH!" Bowser shouted, bursting out. "Guh…THIS CANNOT BE! I have mastered power over TWO forces of Nature, and yet you're STILL beating me! What's going on?"

"Because we have a power you DON'T have," I replied, walking forward. A white falcon blazed around me. "And that's the power of having…" My thoughts quickly darted back to my friends. "the power of friends! When you have friends backing you, you can overcome ANYTHING!"

"DON'T JOKE AROUND!" Bowser shouted. "What kind of lame power is friendship, anyway? It won't get rid of any of this world's contradictions!"

"Contradictions?" Terra asked. "What contradictions?"

"They say they seek 'justice'," Bowser growled. "Yet look at how they treat criminals! Locking them up, maybe even executing them!"

"Bowser, executions aren't very common these days!" Mario shouted. "What you're doing is just destruction and slaughter!"

"It doesn't matter! Look at the damage that's already been done!" Bowser shouted. "Think about it. World disputes, environmental destruction, human discrimination-aren't those examples of destruction and slaughter, too? This world is far too flawed to be redeemed!" he continued. "To solve these problems, one must rise above all others and become a god! And only _then_, with the shaping hand of a god, will they obtain redemption!"

"You're wrong!" I shouted. "What will truly redeem the world is if everyone joins together to solve those problems! If they can set aside their differences, they will save the world!"

"Whether or not our world is incorrect is up to us!" Aeron shouted. At that moment, rainbow-colored wings began to appear behind him. Aeron raised his sword, and rainbow-colored energy began to flow through it. "_Sutasturaiku Burasto! (Starstrike Blast)_" Aeron shouted, and an arrow of rainbow colored light flew out and struck Bowser in the face.

"And take THIS for good measure!" I shouted, dashing towards Bowser. The falcon appeared to rear back and screech at Bowser.

For some reason, as I continued to approach Bowser, I could hear my friends' voices on the wind. _Keep fighting! Don't give up, Ray! Good luck! Hang in there!_ "Thanks, guys," I whispered, closing my eyes. Then when I opened them, unwavering resolve stood in them. "FALCON…PUUUUUUUUUNCH!"

**KA-BLAAAAM!**

"AAAAAARRRGGGHH!" Bowser roared as he fell down, down, down, back to the tower, landing on its hard, frozen surface. Suddenly, gravity defied itself, and we all landed on the tower with him. "Guh…" Bowser slowly struggled to his feet. "You're better than I expected," he complimented. "But don't expect the power of friendship to allow you to WIN next time! I'll be stronger…and you won't stand a chance!" Before we could respond, he jumped up and disappeared in a flash of red light.

"'Don't expect the power of friendship to allow you to win'?" Terra wondered. "What does he mean by that?"

"If he was a god, then he'd know he was right," I muttered to myself. My friends' voices had reached me this time from far away…but the next time…

"What are you talking about?" Mario asked. "And where's the Grand Star-OMG!" Suddenly, there was a rumbling, and the moon exploded, revealing the Grand Star!

"It's the Grand Star!" Axel shouted. "We win!" He reached up and grabbed the Grand Star. "Okay, guys, let's go home!"And everyone cheered…everyone except me.

**WE GOT A GRAND STAR!**

* * *

The Grand Star pulled us with it back to Starship Mario, and we turned in time to see the Star Stronghold explode violently and have a flaming case of Critical Existence Failure. (That was just for emphasis.) "Well, that takes care of THAT problem!" Lubba commented. "And now…" The Grand Star turned into a shining sphere of golden energy that surged forward, creating a massive, swirling sphere of sea green energy! "The portal to the next Region!" Lubba announced proudly. "Good work, team!"

"We did it!" Mario shouted. "Now let's head on to the next Region!"

"Um…actually, we'd like to go back to the Speed Star World," Ruka said. "So, if you're leaving, can you at least drop us off there?"

"Okay," Luigi replied, going up to the wheel. "Next stop, the Speed Star World!" And the engines burst to life, taking us back home.

"Soon we'll be back home, and we can rest up for adventures tomorrow. Right, Ray?" Leon asked.

Everything crashed at that point. This was the exact moment I was dreading. "Guys…I really don't know what I want to do now," I sighed.

"Wait, _what_?" Aidan shouted. "Are you saying you went through all that and you _still_ want to go on this weird 'save the universe' thing?"

"It's not an idealistic crusade!" I protested. "That guy who we battled is really going to destroy the world, and apparently, because I'm a Shining Star, I gotta fight him!"

"So basically, you're saying for the sake of the world, you gotta leave us?"Aidan continued shouting at me.

"Both of you, STOP!" Holly shouted at both of us. She gave us both a look before saying, "We'd best rest for a bit. Ray, sleep on the issue if you want."

"Right," I muttered. Somehow, I didn't think sleeping on it would work.

Everyone thinks the sun never goes down on the Region of Light. But they're wrong; it does move to shine on different galaxies. However, the light still shines from many stars in the sky. And now, on the back of Starship Mario, I lay down next to a stump, watching the stars.

"Ray…are you still up?" I suddenly heard. I looked up to see Terra approaching. "Uh…what are you doing out here? I thought you were going to sleep in the cabin…" she said shyly.

"You may not have thought I'd be like this, but I needed some alone time to get my thoughts together," I said, sitting up. "Except I still haven't. That's the problem."

"You're still fighting the problem with going back with your friends or helping us, aren't you?" Terra asked. She sighed and sat down next to me. "Ray, you're not obligated to come with us. If you want to stay with your friends, I won't object; it's your wish. But…" She looked at me, and I could tell she was kind of sad. "I still would appreciate it if you could come with us…"

"Why? Because I'm a good fighter, so you'll need my skills?" I asked. "Really, stop. You'll be bloating my ego."

"It's not that," Terra replied, averting her gaze. "Actually…I'm a bit shy, so I don't have many friends. So…I…" She squeezed her eyes shut, and exhaled. "Never mind. It's your decision. I shouldn't be interfering with it." Terra quickly got up and headed back to the cabin. "Sorry for bothering y-"

Suddenly, the sky began to glow blue. The stars seemed to be shining even brighter than they usually did. And what appeared to be tiny bits of them were falling upon us! "Whoa!" I shouted. "What's going on?"

Terra extended a hand. "This is stardust! But how's it here? Could a shooting star be abo-"

There was a loud roar, and suddenly, the blue stardust began to gather in a half-circle shape, then form what appeared to be a dragon. Then with a flash, there really _was_ a dragon there! Its body and wings were primarily white, and four violet gems were placed on its chest and shoulders. Several places were blue and had parallel white lines racing across, and its knees were covered by a pale blue armor. Its head was arrow-shaped, and more blue sections were on each "wing" of the arrow. A gentle breeze appeared to be blowing it along, and blue stardust slowly fell from its wings. There seemed to be a divine air with this dragon…

"What is that?" Terra wondered. "It looks like a fairy tale dragon…except much more majestic…"

The dragon glanced at us, and in that moment, I suddenly knew the answer to my question. Then it let out a roar, and flapped its wings, which shone brightly with stardust and propelled it far off into the night sky. "Whoa…" I whispered. Then I remembered what it looked like the dragon was telling me with only a look. I clenched my fist. "Terra, I've decided!" I declared. "I'm going with you guys!"

"R-really?" Terra asked, stunned. "But what about your friends?"

"They'll understand," I said. "But that dragon told me. Helping you guys save the universe will do my friends better good than just sitting here."

"Ray…" Terra whispered, the stunned look still in her eyes. Then she closed her eyes and smiled. "All right. I'm happy you could come with us, Ray. Let's tell the others in the morning."

"So…shall we enjoy watching the stars for the rest of the night?" I asked.

"Yeah," Terra replied.

* * *

_The next day…_

"So you're going to be going with them?" Ruka asked, looking worried.

"Yeah," I said, feeling that stress that you get whenever you do something that you think will be easy, but turns out to be _really_ hard. "I know you guys are probably mad at me-"

"We're fine with it," Ruka replied. I gaped, and then I saw all my friends smiling. "If that's your decision, we'll be rooting for you, Ray!" Ruka said.

I was at a loss for words for a few moments. And then I finally smiled. "Thanks guys," I said. "Don't worry, I'll come back safely!"

The Sunstrikers all prepared to go back to the Speed Star World. "Bye, Ray!" all of them shouted.

"Bye guys!" I shouted. "And don't forget to have Nature's #1 Vegetable as much as possible!"

"What's that?" Terra asked me, while waving.

"Isn't it obvious? It's corn!" I replied, grinning.

The Sunstrikers finally blasted off back to the galaxy, but we didn't stop waving. "I thought you wouldn't come with us," Mario said.

"I dunno, maybe it was an urge to own Bowser again," I replied. "But I thought that by helping you guys, I could do much more than just sitting here."

"True," Aeron agreed. "Well, on to the next Region!" He walked up to the wheel, and then the engines blasted to life, propelling us through the portal into the next region.

* * *

We were very surprised when we came out of the portal. There was nothing but white beneath us. "Where are we?" Mario asked. "It looks like there are a lot of clouds down there!"

"Or maybe it's snow!" Luigi suggested. He suddenly shivered. "Geez, it's cold."

The thought of snow being down there activated Terra's vertigo, and she immediately swayed and toppled over. "Whoa!" I shouted, rushing and grabbing her. "Terra, you're not going to faint, are you?"

"I'm just fine…I think," Terra said, laughing shakily. Then she looked up and suddenly gasped. "_S-sugoi!_" she shouted.

"What?" Axel looked up. "Oh, wow!" For up above us, in a midnight blue sky, hung magnificent green and magenta auroras, slowly pulsating to the harmony of the universe.

"The Region of Ice…" Lubba breathed. "It's an incredible place. But you'd better warm up after each mission! Cause it can get coooooold here!"

"Well, that's cool," I commented. "Literally. But anyway, I can't wait for the awesome adventures we're gonna have here!"

"Good call," Aeron said, grinning. "Ready, guys?" We all nodded.

"Then, here we go!" Mario shouted, bringing up the Launch Star. "This galaxy's called the Tasty Treat Galaxy! Get ready for some sweets!"

And as we blasted off towards our next adventure, I couldn't help but think about how awesome it is to be saving the world when you have your friends by your side.


	22. A Snack of Cosmic Proportions

**Boy, was this a treat (quite literally, in fact)! Nothing like a whole bunch of sweets after fighting the Big Bad! It's the perfect way to relax after a boss fight!**

**Well, not really. This was actually less sweet than we thought. In fact, it was just about HELL.**

**Except we weren't the only ones around who were hungry…SOMEONE was nearby, felt really, REALLY hungry compared to us, and desired…**

* * *

**Traveler's Log Entry 019: A Snack of Cosmic Proportions (unoriginal, I know)**

**Stars: 18**

**Aeron**

* * *

"Geez," Axel sighed as we soared through various pink and blue clouds somewhat reminiscent of cotton candy. "It feels like _forever_ since the last Poffin I made."

"I know," I agreed, remembering the amazingly good cookies Axel enjoyed making for his Pokémon. Usually, they were a tad dry, but also very sweet. Then, remembering the cube candies I created for my _own_ Pokémon, I added, "It feels like it's been an eternity since I made Pokéblocks, too. And since there were no Pokéblock makers in Sinnoh, it's been even longer than since your last Poffin was made."

"Poffin? Pokéblocks?" Mario asked, flying closer to us. "What are you guys talking about? Aren't those from Pokémon?"

"Yeah, except Pokémon is real," Axel replied. Before Mario could give his surprised reply, Axel continued, "And _you're_ a video game character, too, so don't even try that argument. But anyway, yeah, Aeron and I like making those a lot. They all tasted really good." He sighed, a nostalgic look on his face.

"Wow, I wouldn't mind trying some sometime," Luigi commented, quite interested in the idea. "But seriously, are you guys really sure your Poffins and Pokéblocks won't turn out incredibly bitter?"

"Some Pokémon and people _like_ bitter stuff, so it's not a complete undesirable," I replied. "What's your preference, Luigi?"

"I like sweet stuff!" Ray called out, banking through a blue cloud. "Hey, speaking of which, did that cloud just taste sweet?"

"Interesting; your name just became Luigi," Luigi said sarcastically. "Anyway, sour stuff is what I like. Mario likes spicy stuff, and, uh…what about you, Terra?"

"Ano…" Terra thought about it for a moment. "I think I prefer sweet things…wait, what's that?"

We looked down where Terra pointed to see a MASSIVE blue cookie with green sprinkles all over it. "Whoa, it's a HUGE Poffin!" Axel shouted gleefully. "Whoever made this is AWESOME!"

We all landed on the cookie, to see a beautiful blue sky (sort of like the Region of Light) dangling the pink and blue clouds underneath it. There were several other cookies like the one we were on, and various other sweet-shaped planets all around. "Wow! This place looks great!" Ray commented.

Suddenly, there was a twinkling noise, and then Mario, Luigi, Terra, and Ray's Luma partners popped out of their hats (the Mario Bros), bracelets (Terra), and jacket (Ray). "It gets even better!" they chorused, pointing at one cloud which was FULL of Star Bits! "Looks tasty! Let's eat!"

"Remember to save some for us!" I shouted as the Lumas rushed towards the cloud, snacking. "Man, this is a really nice note to start a Region on."

The Lumas came back shortly, their tiny arms filled with the shining bits of stardust. "We saved a lot of them for you!" they called, and then dove back into the items that they usually resided in.

"Let's keep these around; we may need them later," Mario said, shoveling the Star Bits into his pockets. "Hey look, a coin!" He ran over and grabbed it. "And another one! And hey, here's a Blue Star Chi-"

"Blue Star Chip?" Ray interrupted. "We'd better go find the rest of them, then!"

"Um, Luigi?" Terra asked, pointing at a cloud. Luigi ran over after running underneath the planet to get another Star Chip and numerous coins. "How do we get that Blue Star Chip on that cloud?"

"Hm…" Luigi frowned. "Uh, Mario, do we happen to have the Wing Cap with us? Or are all of them still in the Mushroom Kingdom?"

"Okay, hold on…" Mario dug through their pockets. "We have the Propeller Mushroom, if that helps!"

"That won't do," Luigi muttered. "That cloud's too far away for the Propeller Mushroom, and besides, we can't land on clouds with it."

"Ano…Maybe this flower has something to do with it!" Terra suddenly exclaimed, pointing at a tiny flower planted in the ground that resembled a cloud with a smiley face.

"Oh! That's a Cloud Flower!" Luigi shouted. The Cloud Flower released cloud-like pollen on Mario, Luigi, and Terra. Suddenly, their heads were covered by cloud-like hats, and their clothes became white and puffy, like clouds. Behind each of them hovered three clouds. "With this, we should EASILY be able to reach the Star Chip!" Luigi shouted, jumping towards a coin and spinning. One of the three clouds behind his head spun in the vortex of the Spin and expanded, creating a cloud platform under him.

"You said it, Luigi!" Mario agreed, jumping after him and creating a Cloud Platform of his own. Then the two brothers created more clouds to almost get to the big cloud with the Star Chip. "Come on, Terra!" Mario shouted.

"Ano…" Terra looked nervously at how high up the cloud was. "Are you sure it's completely safe?" She jumped up onto one cloud, but then it suddenly began to disappear. _"Nani?_ What's happening?"

"Clouds disappear over time!" Mario shouted. "Hurry!" Panicking, Terra jumped after the Mario Bros, using their rapidly disappearing six clouds to jump up to them, then created three clouds of her own which led up to the big cloud, which the three all jumped to, collecting coins on the way.

"Hey, that looks fun!" Ray shouted, climbing up a pole on another cookie to get to the Star Chip on it. "Let me try that!" He reached the top of the pole, grabbed the Star Chip, and jumped down to a Cloud Flower. "Yay!" (Because I'm lazy, I'm not going to go into what he looks like. =/) He jumped up and started creating clouds. "This is awesome!" Unfortunately, as soon as he created his third cloud, he couldn't create any more and fell down into the depths of the Galaxy. "CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!"

"Well that was a fail," I muttered to myself, already on a third cookie. I ran around it, but it didn't look like the Pull Star Chip was anywhere…that's when I noticed it hovering high above me. "Normally you'd need a Cloud Flower to that, but when you're me…" I raised my hand, and the winds carried the Star Chip back to me. "Got it!" I shouted.

"Oh yeah, did I mention that we can walk on clouds when we have the Cloud Flower?" Mario asked, walking to the Star Chip. "Okay, we're coming back down with the Sling Star!" he called, running to a Sling Star and blasting back towards the cookie.

Axel ran underneath the cookie to grab some coins, jumped to another and then to a third to get some more, and found the final Star Chip just sitting there. "We got all of them!" he shouted, running back to us.

"Awesome!" Mario shouted, as Ray was magically revived by the 1-UP he (was forced by Mario to) eat earlier (and immediately started cursing the Cloud Flower for some reason) and running back to us. We put the Star Chips together, and they combined in a brilliant blue ball of light…which spiraled out into five. "Wait, what? Did the fusion fail?" Mario shouted frantically.

"No, the Star Chips just created five different Pull Stars," Luigi replied as the five balls flew out into the air and turned into Pull Stars. "Okay, they lead to the Launch Star. Let's go."

It took a bit longer than we would have liked to teach Ray how to use Pull Stars, but after several hours of failing, we finally blasted off with the Launch Star to the next planet, landing on a bunch of donuts…which had black holes in their holes. "WTF?" I shouted, pretty unable to wrap my head around how the donuts weren't already getting sucked into the black holes. Those gravity fields must have been pretty weak…

Mario landed and grabbed a bunch of coins. "Alright, let's search for…something!" he shouted, running around the planet. There were numerous donuts, except giant gumdrops were rolling around their circumference as an obstacle. Which didn't work; Mario ate one entirely…and guaranteed himself a giant stomachache.

"At least we can gather a bunch of coins," Luigi muttered as he jumped over the gumdrops to catch numerous coins. However, at that moment, a gumdrop rammed into him, flattening him into the glaze of the donut. "D'OH!"

Ray jumped over the black hole of one to get to a really big cake which seemed to have a tunnel leading through it. "Okay, let's do this!" he shouted, running in.

"DON'T say 'Leeroy Jenkins', please," Terra groaned as she ran after him, clearly aware of all the bad things that happen if Ray says that. "Is it just me, or is it REALLY hot in here?"

Inside the cake were four REALLY big rotating cookies…that had been stamped through with numerous cookie cutters. "HOLY CRAP THIS IS JUST AS SCARY AS THE SWEET SWEET GALAXY!" Luigi shouted, bad memories immediately returning.

"There's no way it could be that bad," Ray replied, jumping over some circles and squares cut into the cookies. However, he smacked into a wall and fell into a crescent moon-shaped hole. "REALLY, I FALL AGAIN?"

I tried to freeze the gaps in between the rotating platforms, but apparently this planet's climate was a bit too hot for that. "Crud," I muttered as I ran and jumped over a bunch of hexagons, stars, crosses, arrows, and such to get to the next cookie. "This is annoying!"

Terra jumped after me, quickly making it across the first cookie, but almost falling into a heart-shaped hole. "Whoa!" she shouted as she teetered on its edge, but I grabbed her hand and helped her regain her balance. "Oh, thanks Aeron," Terra said, then we quickly jumped over a pentagon-shaped hole.

"SCREW THIS, IMMA USING MAH PROPELLER MUSHROOM!" Mario shouted, grabbing the orange Shroom and donning a red jumpsuit with a helmet that had a propeller on its top. He jumped over the first cookie, but then Luigi jumped and grabbed his feet. "FINE, YOU CAN HITCH A RIDE, BUT IF I DIE, IT'S _YOUR_ FAULT!" Mario shouted, spinning to gain an immense amount of height, then gliding down to the _fourth_ cookie. "W00T! Get a load of THAT, Aeron!" Mario shouted, jumping over a circle-shaped hole.

"That's 'cause you cheated, moron," I replied indignantly.

*insert record scratch here*

"…screw you!" Mario shouted, annoyed that I stole his thunder. Almost immediately, because he was distracted, he smashed into the wall and fell through the hole. "CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!" Mario shouted, falling into the depths of the clouds (completely forgetting that he could escape using the power of his Propeller Mushroom).

"Well, that was a fail," Axel muttered, jumping off the third cookie to get to the last one, then immediately to the platform at the end, which looked like a s'more. "W00T! GO AXEL! GO AXEL! GO AXEL! GO AXEL!" Axel continued having his moment of egotism for the next minute while we rushed over to where he was.

"Well, here's the Launch Star," Luigi said, as Mario and Ray were revived through their 1-UPs, and immediately began cursing the galaxy. "Okay, let's go!"

We then landed on a giant pretzel floating in space, which attracted you with its gravity to the nearest part of it, no matter where you were. This allowed us to move easily. "_Daga _(but)…where's the Launch Star?" Terra wondered, looking around.

"We _build_ the Launch Star, that's the answer," Luigi replied, holding up a Yellow Star Chip which he found laying around. "The other Yellow Star Chips should be elsewhere on the planet. There aren't many unpredictable parts of this planet; we should have a much easier time collecting them."

It didn't take very long before we were able to find the other four Yellow Star Chips at various bends on the pretzel, and we put them all together to create a golden sphere of energy. "Say, will _this_ one make five Launch Stars or something?" Ray asked stupidly.

"No," Luigi replied, annoyed as the Launch Star appeared. "Ray, you don't think they'd have _that_ many Stars in here, do you?"

Numerous pancakes, lollipops, and pretzels passed as we rushed through the clouds of cotton candy to the next planet, which was shaped like an ice cream cone with THREE scoops! Also, several multicolored Star Bit sprinkles dotted the surface, although I noticed that there were a lot of blue and red ones. "Whoa! I wonder what flavor they are!" Axel wondered.

"It looks like it's honeydew, strawberry, and vanilla," I replied. "Great, vanilla ice cream! Exactly what I wanted! And honeydew, too? EPIC!"

"Wait, no chocolate? ~" Mario had a random mental breakdown and spiraled off into some spiraling cake thing.

"WTF?" Ray wondered, staring after Mario. "Does he get a mental breakdown if something merely isn't to his liking?"

"Sigh...no, he's just weird like that," Luigi groaned as we landed at the very tip of the cone. "Alright, let's find out what we're supposed to do on this planet." We began to run up the cone, collecting a bunch of coins, but as we set foot on the actual ice cream (first we were walking on honeydew ice cream), suddenly, numerous blue and red sprinkles burst out of the ground, revealing themselves to be freezing (blue) and burning (red) rocks with eyes! "Oh crap!" Luigi shouted. "Burn Bits and Brrr Bits!"

"Oh, so they aren't Star Bits?" Ray asked. "Then what kind is this?" He pointed at a green Star Bit embedded in the ice cream. "Is it a Blast Bit?"

"NO YOU FOOL _THAT'S_ A STAR BIT!" Luigi raged, waving his hands in the air. "ANYWAY, DON'T TOUCH THE BURN AND BRRR BITS OR ELSE THEY'LL BURN AND FREEZE YOU, RESPECTIVEL-"

"OWWWWWWW!" Axel shouted, waving his arm which was now on fire after touching a Burn Bit. "JERK! I KILL YOU!" He unsheathed his sword and slashed the rock to pieces without so much as a whiff of fiery smoke in response.

A Brrr Bit went up to Ray and chilling blue smoke puffed out from the rock, freezing Ray in place. "OH MY GOD, RAY!" Terra shouted, running up to the Brrr Bit and kicking it, causing it to lose its freezing aura, and then speared it with an emerald, then tried to free Ray from the icy prison.

I raised my sword and unleashed a wave of heat, strengthening the Burn Bits but considerably weakening the Brrr Bits, and melting the ice cream so there was more liquid moisture in the air, which immediately spiraled around my blade. "_Uzumaki Kyouran!_" I shouted, bringing the blade down in a chop and blasting tornadoes of water in all directions, drenching the Burn and Brrr Bits and destroying them. "There, now some troublesome foes are out of the way," I said, satisfied as I sheathed my sword. "Come on, guys, let's go."

Axel, Ray and Luigi seemed thoroughly ticked off at me for drenching _them_ in the process (Terra somehow didn't get hit by ANY of it), but kept that to themselves as we continued up the next scoop (strawberry), collecting some more coins. Again, we found a bunch of Burn and Brrr Bits, but Ray ended their lives quite anticlimactically with his usual "Corn!" and cause earthquake routine. "Ow…" Ray pulled himself out of the strawberry ice cream, for he had landed so hard that he impaled himself in it. "Hey, Mario, hurry up!"

"I'm coming, okay?" Mario shouted in annoyance, using a Cloud Flower to ascent to several cotton candy clouds, then running across a large cheesecake to grab a bunch of coins (We don't talk about coins much unless they're really important :D). He jumped between two more parallel slices of cheesecake to get to a Launch Star, which he used to hurry to some giant cup of hot chocolate. "THERE! I'M HERE NOW! YOU HAPPY?"

"Okay, now you can wait for a bit. But do try to collect those coins sitting around the brim of the cup," Luigi called, running up the last scoop (if you haven't guessed, it's vanilla) and grabbing a bunch of coins and Star Bits. He spun away the smoke clouds of the Burn and Brrr Bits in his path before kicking them away, then jumped into the Launch Star and headed after Mario, and the rest of us followed him. "Alright, Mario," Luigi said as we landed on the brim, "can you see the Launch Star?"

"Yeah, I can. Problem is, it's out there," Mario said, pointing at the Launch Star, which was floating out above some sugar cube.

"Oh, brother," I groaned. "Anyone got a clue on how to get there?"

"Luigi! There's an Ice Flower here!" Mario shouted, pointing. "Let's use it to freeze this stuff and get over there!"

"Yeah, that might work, let's try it!" Luigi agreed, and the Ice Flower covered Luigi and then Mario in its pollen, turning them transparent and allowing them to quickly traverse the chocolate, freezing it into hexagonal platforms with icy energy as they swiftly skated across the ice. "The Ice platforms melt quickly!" Luigi shouted. "Follow us, fast!"

"Wait, if we couldn't make ice back in the cake, then how are we making ice now?" Axel wondered as we ran after the Mario Bros.

"I dunno, maybe it's an epic fail," I replied. We jumped up to the Launch Star, counted our coins, and flew off, Mario coming last. "Alright! To…wherever we're going next!" I declared.

We landed to find a bunch of biscuits flying through the air and used them as platforms to rush over to a bigger biscuit, where a cannon was. Terra slipped a couple of times, but we finally were able to reach the biggest biscuit. "Yay! Cannon!" Mario shouted, jumping in.

"You're going to shoot _YOURSELF_ in that?" Ray freaked out. "I wouldn't trust it to THAT extent!"

"Eh, it's perfectly safe!" Mario replied as the cannon turned and he adjusted his aim. "And I'll shoot myself at that…ZOMG TASTY SHROOMS!"

The cannon abruptly swiveled, crashing into me and knocking me over the edge. "OOF!" I shouted, grabbing the edge. Mario jettisoned himself like a shooting star at some Shroom-shaped lollipop (which, after pulling myself up, I realized looked A LOT MORE CONVINCING from the front than I thought), which he crashed into and fell into the clouds. "Idiot…" I muttered.

Luigi sighed as Mario was revived. "Ugh…" Mario groaned, getting up. Then he saw the lollipop. "Wha-a Shroom-shaped lollipop?" He immediately got ticked off and hollered into the air, "OH, VERY FUNNY, BOWSER!" And then he walk off, mumbling and grumbling to himself.

"Ano…where are you walking off to?" Terra asked. Mario immediately screamed as he fell into the void, then revived while cursing horribly.

"Let ME do it," I muttered, jumping into the cannon. I aimed at a white and red lollipop which strangely had a red target decorating its front and was hanging above a platform of dark chocolate, then propelled myself headfirst at it, smashing directly into the "target" and earning a massive bump on the head for my troubles. "OW," I said, rubbing my head after landing. Suddenly, a 1-UP Shroom bounced off my head and landed next to me. "Huh, and here we have a REAL Shroom!" I declared. The others followed me, but I noticed that the lollipop had turned blue and yellow, with the target turning yellow.

"Well, we're here. Now what?" Ray asked, jumping to another platform, made of white chocolate. "Wait, what? Hey guys, look at this! It's a pink Luma! With coin-shaped lollipops!"

"Awesome," Axel said, not looking. Suddenly, it sank in. "Say WHAT?"

"…why does hearing that make you have a mental breakdown exactly?" Luigi asked. "It must be a Hungry Luma. Better hope we've collected a lot of coins, cause those guys can REALLY eat."

"Ano…who eats coins?" Terra asked. "Aren't those too hard to eat? I mean, you'd break your teeth on them…"

"…I have no clue," Luigi replied lamely as he somersaulted to the white chocolate platform, then helped Terra climb up it. For some reason, the Ice Flower STILL hadn't worn off. "Hey, Hungry Luma. What's up?"

Completely ignoring any greeting, the Hungry Luma dived straight into business, demanding, "I'm so hungry! Will you give me 100 coins? They taste soooo good!"

"But if we give them to you, what good will happen?" I asked, a bit suspicious.

"If I eat 100 of them, then I might transform into a planet! Which may or may not have a Star on it!" the Hungry Luma replied cheerfully, which actually got my attention. "So…got any?"

"…okay…" Luigi carefully calculated. "We should have collected _exactly_ 100 coins on our way…"

"Um…about that, Luigi…" Mario interrupted a sheepish look on his face.

*insert record scratch here*

"What? What're you talking about, Mario?" Luigi asked. "We SHOULD have them…and I'm pretty sure we gave them all to you for safekeeping, right? So where are they?"

"Well, actually, while we were at that big cup of hot chocolate, I was experimenting to see if coins float in hot chocolate," Mario replied. "It turns out they don't. Who would have known?"

We all gaped at him. "Mario," I said slowly. "Coins are made of GOLD. OF COURSE they wouldn't float. Do you even know BASIC physics?"

"…YOU MEAN THAT YOU _DUNKED_ ALL THE COINS IN THE HOT CHOCOLATE?" Luigi raged.

"…um, yeah, pretty much," Mario admitted lamely.

Luigi took a moment to recover, then sighed, "Sigh…alright, how many coins do we have left?" He was worried about how much our plan was set back.

"1…" Mario replied, a look of horror on his face. Although it was sort of hard to see, because the Ice Flower STILL hadn't worn off, and he was still transparent.

*insert record scratch here*

"What?" we all said in shock, Axel motioning for Mario to repeat himself.

"1!" Mario repeated, holding up our only coin left.

"YOU IDIOT! I KILL YOU!" Luigi shouted, utterly livid as he ran at Mario with FIREY energy (the Ice Flower wore off, but he grabbed a Fire Flower that he had in his pocket) around his hands.

*insert punching and flaming sounds here*

* * *

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~" the plumber screamed as he went flying to another planet entirely.

"Ano…Star Power radiates from numerous places in this galaxy, so I guess we don't have to feed him," Terra sighed, prompting a lot of protests from the Hungry Luma.

"About that," I suddenly interrupted, remembering something I thought of doing while we were traveling through the portal to the Region of Ice. "Actually, we have 100 coins."

"Wait, WHAT?" Ray shouted, pointing in the direction that Mario flew. "BUT I THOUGHT THAT IDIOT GOT RID OF ALL OF THEM!"

"Well, for some reason, I had a feeling we'd need coins, so I brought a whole bunch of the ones we amassed on our journey," I explained, holding up a wallet and chucking out 100 coins at the Hungry Luma.

"Yessss! I've got a HUGE coin craving right now!" the Hungry Luma declared, before opening his mouth and catching all the coins, growing fatter and fatter with each one. All of us, except Luigi because he had seen this before, gaped in surprise. Eventually, the Luma was REALLY fat (and somewhat darker in color) and said to us, "That's the stuff! I'm so FULL! Wow…I think I'm going to…TRANSFOOOOORM!" And then he spun around, turning into a big ball of light and blasting off in another direction, turning into a brand new planet in the shape of a giant cake with 15 unlit candles with assorted colors.

"Whoa, that was weird, but AWESOME," Ray breathed. "Okay, guys, let's go to that planet!"

"Well, actually, there's some Star power radiating that way," Terra said, pointing in another direction, toward a set of planets which looked like a bunch of COLOSSAL popsicles. "It's just along this road of biscuits…"

"Alright, then," Luigi said. "I think I launched Mario in that direction, so Ray, Terra, you go to that Star which you just detected, and Axel, Aeron, you guys follow me to the Hungry Luma's planet. Alright, got it? Let's-a-go!"

"Right!" everyone shouted, and we all ran off in different directions, Terra and Ray running across the biscuits to the Launch Star. Except they started collapsing under the Shining Stars' weight. "WHOA CRAP!" Ray shouted, launching himself to the next one as fast as he could, except that one began to fall, too.

"These biscuits are much more fragile than the ones we were at before," Terra told him, helping him to the next one. "We'll have to move quickly!" The two began to run as fast as they could, but it wasn't enough. "_Bakana!_ (Impossible!)" Terra exclaimed, seeing that they were on a particularly large biscuit that was descending rapidly.

"This isn't good…" Ray growled. "Wait, Aeron, Axel! Could you guys tell us how you move so fast?"

"It probably wouldn't work for you," I called. "But if you _really_ want to know, then Axel and I imagine a dark hole in front of us. The darker and deeper, the better. And we imagine diving into it, then while we do that, we think about our feet taking us to where we want to go. That's all there is to it!"

"That sounds weird…but it looks like that's our only chance!" Ray decided. "Ready, Terra?" Terra nodded, and the two closed their eyes, concentrating as the biscuit continued to collapse.

"There's not enough time for that! Just get moving!" Luigi shouted frantically. Suddenly, green and white glows interrupted him. "Wait, what?" he wondered.

Terra and Ray's feet glowed with emerald green and white energy, respectively, which suddenly lots of stardust of the same color rippled out from their feet, and they disappeared completely from view before reappearing right next to the Launch Star, their feet still glowing. Terra opened her eyes, and then realized where she was. "EHHHHHH?" she exclaimed with surprise.

"Whoa, we actually got here!" Ray exclaimed, relieved. "Thanks, Aeron!"

"…I have no idea _how_ that happened, but you're welcome," I replied, wondering how two humans with no _Shinigami_ (Death God) powers or training that allowed them to perform a high speed technique that was activated in the way _Shun-po_ (Flash Step) would be, and also what the heck that was anyway. "Okay, guys, let's go!" I shouted, deciding to ponder about it later.

* * *

_Elsewhere…_

We had no clue that Shade had been watching us on top of his airship. "Heh heh…I guess Mario's not with them anymore…and despite how easy it is to see an Airship without its cloaking generators, those idiots still didn't notice me…" Shade said, grinned. "Hey, minion! Gimme an Ice Flower!"

A Goomba brought an Ice Flower to him. "Here you go, sir," he said.

Shade grabbed it and got ready to cover himself with its pollen and turn the clone transparent. "Now I can infiltrate the group and take the Star from them at the last second! All I have to do is make sure we get it before 30 seconds are up, and I'll turn opaque again, revealing myself!" He went over to a communication line between the bridge and the main part of the deck. "Guys, put up the cloaking generators and get us closer to that cake."

* * *

_Back with us…_

Luigi, Axel, and I landed on the cake. It was three layered, with chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry layers. There were 7 candles on the chocolate layer on the bottom, 5 on the vanilla layer in the middle, and 3 on the strawberry layer on top. The candles were striped white and blue/red/green/yellow. "Wow! This looks _awesome_ to eat!" Luigi commented.

"Hey, everybody! It's-a me, Mario!" we suddenly heard, and then we looked up to see what appeared to be Mario walking towards us, somehow still with the Ice Flower on.

"HEY! I THOUGHT I LAUNCHED YOU OFF SOMEWHERE!" Luigi shouted, obviously aware of the illogicality of Mario appearing here now.

"Whatever," I said, shrugging. "We'll just have to do it all over again."

Then an evil smirk crossed Axel's face, and he grabbed a chain gun which he magically pulled up from nowhere. "And _harder_ this time…heh heh heh…" he whispered in an ominous voice.

"Oh s*bleep*," the guy who appeared to be Mario muttered.

*insert chain gun, smackdown, thunderclap, and nuke sounds here*

* * *

_After the carnage…_

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~" the plumber screamed as he went flying to another planet entirely.

"Well, that should have taught him a lesson," Luigi muttered, running across the chocolate layer. "I wonder _how_ he got here that fast after being launched, though?"

"Are you sure that was Mario and not Shade pretending to be Mario?" I asked abruptly, remembering the clone's (pathetic XD) existence.

"What would it matter?" Axel replied, putting away his chain gun. "Shade's evil, anyway. So…what do you think we should do here?"

"I don't know who's birthday it is, but maybe this Fire Flower here means that we should light all the candles!" Luigi suggested, pointing at the red and yellow flower hovering in front of him. "Should we try it?"

"It's worth a try," I agreed, raising my sword and gathering white flame. I jumped upwards and spun around, shouted "_Nagareboshi!_ (Shooting Star)" and swung my sword down, sending a fireball that ignited two candles in a row.

"Flashy, much?" Axel asked, blasting two other candles with _Hado #31: Shakaho _(Way of Destruction #31, Shot of Red Fire). "I don't have any flame based attacks, so you must be trying to make me jealous." I gave him a rather arrogant looking smirk in response, which annoyed the LIVING DAYLIGHTS out of Axel. "CUT IT OUT!" Axel shouted, FIRING HIS LAZOR BLAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGHHH at me.

"DUDE, WATCH IT!" Luigi shouted, hurling himself out of the way in midair to avoid Axel's LAZOR as he blasted fireballs at the remaining candles, lighting all three of them. "Okay! Now to move on to the candles on the next layer!" Luigi declared, somersaulting onto the vanilla layer. Except suddenly his Fire Flower wore off. "D'oh," Luigi muttered, running across the vanilla layer to get another one.

"Fail," I muttered, jumping up and grabbing onto the edge of the vanilla layer. Which broke. "D'OH!" I shouted, falling off the edge and onto my back. "Well that was a fail…at least I can have a bit of cake," I muttered, eating the bit of cake that broke off before trying to jump onto the vanilla layer again, this time making it successfully.

"Dude, I actually made it before you to the TOP layer. XD" Axel said, grinning. He jumped up into the air and gathered a lot of silver flame at his hand. "_Ryusei no Kiwadachi!"_ he shouted, hurling it downward as three large blasts of silver flame which spiraled out and set the three candles on top aflame.

"Wait a minute, wasn't the flame orange when Aeron used that move back in the Star Stronghold?" Luigi asked, lighting up two more candles.

"Well, that spell, along with many others I don't feel like mentioning, varies from person to person," I explained. "For Axel, it's silver." To demonstrate, I performed my own _Ryusei no Kiwadachi_ and set the last three candles on fire.

Suddenly, something began to shine brightly on top of the cake. We watched it as it glowed brighter and brighter…and then the glow faded to reveal a Power Star! "Yes! We did it!" Luigi proclaimed proudly. "Now we can go back to Starship Mario! But first…"

Suddenly, a swirling portal with orange borders appeared, and Ben barreled out. Ignoring the WTF looks on our face, he immediately blurted: "Hey Axel you won't believe this I found a weird lab and got sent back in time where I met my ancestor Zoro and the rest of his crew and then I got teleported back to the lab and got an awesome gun which allows me to shoot portals and HEY CAKE AWESOME and found this weird computer called Gla-DOS and she wants me to experiment with weird technology which brings me here TO MAKE CAMEOS!"

"...what?" Axel asked, completely unable to make heads or tails of Ben's incredibly fast words despite the fact that he has superhuman reflexes.

"I said I found a weird lab and got sent back in time where I met my ancestor Zoro and the rest of his crew and then I got teleported back to the lab and got an awesome gun which allows me to shoot portals and HEY CAKE AWESOME and found this weird computer called Gla-DOS and she wants me to experiment with weird technology which brings me here TO MAKE CAMEOS!" Ben declared. "NOW I DEMAND CAKE!"

"Well you can't have any," Axel replied, holding up the chain gun. "Besides, wouldn't Gla-DOS want you to-"

_"What are you doing?"_ we suddenly heard a computerized voice say from the portal. Ben froze and slowly turned around in horror as the voice continued, _"No. You are not permitted to be free. We still have work to do. Now get back here."_

And then, a blue light shone from the portal, dragging Ben in. "AAAAAAAAA AN EXCURSION FUNNEL!" Ben shouted, comically trying to run away in midair. "NO AXEL STOP HER DON'T LET HER TAKE ME AWAY FROM MY CAAAAAAAAAAAKE..." The portal closed in front of Ben.

"...okay, that was weird," Luigi muttered. "What do you think, Axel?"

"..." Axel's face magically got replaced with a lolface/awesome face/whatever you call it.

"O_O O...k...ANYWAY LET'S JUST EAT CAKE!" Luigi shouted. So we chowed down a bit on cake before going back.

**WE GOT A STAR!**

* * *

The Star carried us back through the cotton candy clouds back to Starship Mario underneath the glowing aurora hanging in the sky. "Wait, what?" Lubba asked as we descended. "Where are Mario, Terra, and Ray? Did you guys split up?"

We quickly explained events to him. "So to summarize, they're getting another Star," I concluded. "Say, Lubba, is there anything here that lets us see what they're doing?"

"Well…let's see…" Lubba tapped a few buttons, and then suddenly we saw Terra and Ray wall jumping between popsicles, except it was a _very_ shaky view. "We're seeing from the perspective of Mario's Luma," Lubba explained. "Yes, I realize our equipment is great."

"Hey, guys! Wait for me!" we heard Mario yell. "Is this revenge for me dunking the coins in the water?"

"If we said yes, what would happen?" Ray retorted, jumping onto the top of a popsicle and then climbing up a popsicle stick like a pole to get to the top of the next one.

"…OOF! S*bleep*!" Mario growled, as he jumped to the next wall, shaking the camera some more.

"Hey, guys, I can see the Star from here!" Terra exclaimed, pointing. "The problem is…we still have a long way to go." There were still around seven popsicles between them.

"No worries, we can get over there with a long jump!" Mario shouted, and he long jumped to the next popsicle before grabbing the stick and pole vaulting to the second to last popsicle. He wall jumped up to the top, and turned back. "Pretty awesome, hu-HUH? WHERE THE HECK DID THEY GO?"

"Ano…we're right here, Mario," we heard Terra reply from off screen.

"WHA-?" Mario whirled around to see Terra and Ray standing on the popsicle right behind him. "WHEN DID YOU GET THERE?"

"We used magic to get here," Ray replied, grinning. "We'll tell you about it later. Let's head back to Starship Mario."

**WE GOT A STAR!**

* * *

As Ray, Terra, and Mario landed on the deck of Starship Mario, Lubba asked cheerfully, "So…I heard there were big sweets. Did you enjoy your time there?"

EVERYONE shook their head. "IT WAS TORTURE," Luigi groaned. "I AM GOING TO KILL WHOEVER CALLED IT THE TASTY TREAT GALAXY."

"But…what was that high speed technique Terra and Ray used, now that we can wonder about it again?" I asked. Mario had NO clue what I was talking about.

"High speed technique? Show me," Lubba ordered. Without a word, Terra and Ray suddenly generated stardust around their feet the same color as their _reiatsu _and disappeared, before reappearing in random other places on the deck. "Hm…based on what I've heard about Shining Stars, I reckon that's Stardash," Lubba decided. "They concentrate the Power of the Cosmos they have into their feet to quickly move to wherever they want to go, and this releases stardust the same color as their reiatsu from around their feet."

"That's a pretty neat power!" Luigi commented. "But wait…why haven't we seen Shade use it?"

"He probably doesn't know," Lubba replied. "But anyway, going to more important topics…did you get Star Bits? And if so, how many did you bring back? :D"

"O_o THAT'S AN IMPORTANT TOPIC?" I raged at Lubba. The raging continued for several hours after that.


	23. The Cold Hardness of Duty

**Traveler's Log 20: The Cold Hardness of Duty**

**Stars: 21**

**Terra**

* * *

Loneliness has always been something I dreaded…but someone made me wonder now, how can someone _enjoy_ it? When you're lonely, you have no one to help you, no one to tell your feelings about a sad topic, no one to stand up against someone harassing you. So why does _she_ think that loneliness is _good_?

It was several hours before the air around Starship Mario finally became quiet again. Aeron, the source of all the noise, was panting for breath; he had been screaming at Lubba for a long time because a question Lubba asked enraged him. I think Aeron really overreacted…in fact, while he was screaming, Luigi actually slipped out and got another Star in that time! "I'm too tired to shout anymore," Aeron muttered as Luigi returned with the new Star.

"Aw," Axel groaned, holding up a chain gun. "And I was looking forward to beating the crap out of you with this thing, too!"

My eyes bugged out. "A-Axel…where did you get that thing? It's so big! There's no way you could have just pulled it out of your pocket!"

"Well, _that_ is a trade secret," Axel replied, grinning. And then it occurred to me that the chain gun was GONE. Before I asked where it went, he quickly held up his hand and declared, "Another trade secret."

"On a lighter note," Lubba interrupted, floating over to the wheel. "I don't think you've actually been looking around the Starship much. While I drive you guys to the next galaxy, why don't you guys explore the Starship for a bit?" He took the wheel, and the engines burst to life.

* * *

Several Lumas hovered around the Starship, bobbing up and down as they happily floated through the icy air. Mario sighed and sat down on a tree stump. "It's almost exactly the same as I remember it," he commented.

"Except…the Toad Brigade's absent," Luigi noted. "Last time I checked, they were promoted to royal guards, so they should have been in the Castle at the time of the attack. While I know they kept the Starshroom on the castle grounds, I wonder what became of them?"

"Well, the Toad Brigade's resourceful and brave, or so I heard," I put in. "So they should be f-"

Mario laughed so hard he fell over and had to catch his breath afterwards. "That's a joke! The Captain's ridiculously NOT brave! It's all a ruse!" My face turned pink at this for some reason. Mainly because I felt kind of stupid because I believed the stories about the Toad Brigade Captain, and there were subtle clues that those stories were false…which I didn't notice.

"Hey, I wonder what's in here?" Aeron wondered, walking to a secret door in the brim of Starship Mario's hat. A moment the door opened and he ran out screaming, his robes on fire. He quickly rolled on the ground, extinguishing the flames.

"WTF just happened?" Mario wondered, running towards the secret door. "The engine room is in there! Are all my tasty Shrooms still there?" We all gave sighs of exasperation at this.

"He touched the beacon…and it's really hot…" the Luma grumbled, floating out. "At least none of the display cases were destroyed…"

"Display cases?" I asked, walking inside. There were several display cases, each one containing a different item, such as a Cloud Flower, a Fire Flower, a Rock Mushroom, an Ice Flower, and several others I couldn't identify. "What are those for?"

"They're used as a backup source of power, and allow Starship Mario to survive harsh conditions. Such as-" the Luma shivered at this point- "-getting through this cold weather easily!"

At this, I suddenly realized how cold it was…and my T-shirt and miniskirt _really_ didn't help now. I shivered and had to huddle near the blazing beacon to keep warm. "It's times like this I wish I was back in Toad Town now…" I whispered to myself.

Suddenly, the Starship began rocking. "WHAT THE F*bleep*?" Mario shouted, running around across the shaking planetoid. He suddenly slipped and fell.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH~ EARTHQUAKE!" Luigi shouted, running to the other side of the Starship until he suddenly lost his balance and fell on his face.

"Oh no…what's going to happen to this Starship?" I wondered, running up to the main deck. Suddenly, I saw Lubba on the ground, groaning. "Lubba! What's ha-_NANI?_"

Ray was jumping up and down on the panel that activated the holomap, four arrows positioned on it. The holomap was decorated with a lot of arrows going up the screen and a green bar at the top, and Ray was continuously jumping up and down to stomp on the arrows, causing the same arrows to disappear on the screen when they passed over transparent ones of the same direction. "W00T! I got nice steps!" he shouted.

"YOU CAUSED AN EARTHQUAKE BY PLAYING _DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION_?" Axel screamed in utter rage. He hefted his chain gun and ran at Ray. "I KILL YOU!"

"AXEL, NO! STO-" I began, but Axel wasn't going to spare Ray.

*insert bullet sounds here*

* * *

"Urgh…" Ray groaned, lying on the ground. Axel now grabbed an Xbox Controller that was sitting in a compartment next to the wheel and began playing _The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim_.

"Er…Axel?" I asked, eying Ray. "Wasn't that too harsh?" I considered taking Ray's jacket in the cold, but it seemed too thin for this kind of weather anyway.

"Nah," Axel replied, enjoying his video game. "At least now he won't cause another earthquake. :D"

"Ugh…I was hoping you wouldn't figure it out; it'd probably distract you from your mission a LOT," Lubba groaned as he resumed floating. "But you can play video games using the holomap and a bunch of controls in there." He indicated the compartment from which Axel got the Xbox Controller.

"Wait, we can play video games? Cool!" Mario shouted, running over to the compartment and grabbing a Wii Remote Plus. "I WANNA PLAY _NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. WII_ NOW!"

"NO!" Axel shouted, elbowing him away. "I WANNA KEEP PLAYING _SKYRIM_!" The two began a brawl over which game to play. As they fought, Aeron walked over, casually picked up the Xbox controller, and began playing _Portal 2_.

"T_T This is why I didn't want you guys to notice that you could play video games here," Lubba sighed. Suddenly there was a beeping noise, and the game instantly paused and minimized. Aeron's mouth dropped open as the holomap indicated that we were now right next to the Galaxy which Lubba had been trying to drive us to, although he didn't get a moment to complain. "Oh! We're finally here!" Lubba said, hitting the button on the wheel. The Launch Star came up immediately.

_Bzzzzt…bzzzt…crackle…_

"Wait, what?" Aeron asked as the Holomap suddenly went static. "What's going on? Is something jamming whatever you used to make this thing, Lubba?"

"No…" Lubba frowned. "It seems someone's trying to contact us. Mario, just wondering, does your Special One's Castle have access to this channel?"

"No, it couldn't be from Peach's Castle; I forgot how to access the channel," Mario reasoned. "So that means…"

The static finally cleared up enough to reveal a Toad on the screen. He had red spots, and red clothes. On his head was a headlight, and a huge backpack on his back. _"M-M-M-M-M-M-M-Mario! Help! It's Sh-sh-sh-sh-shocking... Mushroom Castle... RAIDED! Princess Peach... STOLEN!"_ the Toad screamed from the other end.

"Toad! You're still alive? Where are you?" Mario shouted, running in front of all of us. "And by the way, what you just told us is old news."

"W-w-we escaped from B-Bowser's fleet using the Starshroom, b-but it got damaged along the way…" Toad stammered. He appeared to be shivering. "A-and we c-crashed in the Shiver Summit Galaxy…a-anyway, we decided to c-call Starship Mario because that was the only thing that s-seemed to be in range to contact…a-and now…JUST C-COME AND RESCUE US ALREADY!"

"Wait, how did you even know Mario and I were on the Starship?" Luigi asked, pushing to the front.

"Oh! Luigi!" the Toad gasped, taken a bit by surprise. "W-we saw you guys get launched into s-space at that moment…b-but our sensors in the Starshroom, while we were escaping, t-tracked that y-you guys were still alive and had l-landed in a Galaxy s-safely…so w-we actually thought you could find t-the Starship."

"…SO YOU GUESSED," Mario accused loudly. Toad nodded weakly at that. "WONDERFUL. NOW BECAUSE OF YOUR HORRIBLE TIMING, WE ARE GOING TO HAVE TO LEAVE THE GALAXY WE WERE JUST ABOUT TO GET A STAR FROM JUST TO RESCUE YOU-"

"Actually, the Shiver Summit Galaxy just happens to be the one we're at right now; I forgot to tell you," Lubba suddenly piped up cheerfully.

"Okay, that means we can multitask and get the Toad Brigade back…" Luigi decided. "Wait, Toad, you say you _crashed_? How's the Starshroom now, then?"

"W-We don't have the tools or parts to properly repair it right now," Toad replied, shaking. "I-It's really cold here! If you guys don't come fast…"

"We get it," Luigi replied. "Lubba, tools and parts for repairing Starshrooms?"

"It works best if you have a Star, but we'll see what we can do. A bunch of my mechanics will accompany you. Don't worry about tools," Lubba replied. "As for parts, I think using metal from meteors works! That's saying, though, that you have enough heat to make it the right sh-"

Aeron raised his sword and cut off Lubba with a jet of flames, burning the freezing cold into a sweltering heat. "Problem solved," he declared, smirking at Lubba's gaping jaw. "Now, how can we get meteor shards?"

"First, PUT THAT AWAY," Lubba ordered, motioning for Aeron to sheath his sword. As soon as Aeron had done so, Lubba continued "I think some meteors are still left over from when Shade attacked the Starship. Knowing how useful metal from meteors can be out here, I kept some, so you should find it in the Reactor room."

"I'll get it," I offered, and climbed over the deck's rail, then over the brim of Starship Mario's hat and into the reactor room. The meteors were heaped in a corner, shining unusually brightly, and I went to pick them up. But as I collected the shiny rocks, something strange happened. It felt like there was suddenly an unfamiliar clear note filling the air, one which seemed to resonate with my heart. Except this one seemed lonely and sad…

"Hey! Are you alright?" I snapped back to reality when the Luma managing the Reactor called out to me.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," I replied, quickly bundling up the meteor shards and taking them outside back into the frosty air. What troubled me, though, was that I had felt this before…when I had met Ray. Could there be another Shining Star somewhere?

Because my arms were full, I couldn't climb anywhere again, so I just took a level path back to the deck. "Oh, you got the meteor sha-TERRA LOOK OUT!" Mario shouted.

"_Naze_ (Why)_-_UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" I screamed, my feet suddenly striking against the edge of the deck and causing me to fall flat on my face, sending the meteor shards flying and scattering all over the deck. "_I-itai…_" I groaned, rubbing my forehead.

"…okay, that was a serious moment of clumsiness. No offense or anything," Axel quickly added.

"_Gomenosai,_" I groaned, slowly rising. "Should I help pick up the shards?"

"No, it's fine, I'll do it," Axel replied, walking across the deck to collect the shards again. But as he picked them up, I noticed that he carefully inspected each meteor shard, as if trying to see through it. And then he'd sigh and put the meteor shard into his other hand. Eventually, Axel stood up and declared, "Okay, now we'd better call up the Luma mechanics-"

"All right, time's up, let's do this! **LEEEEEROOOOOOOOYYYYYY~ JEEEEEENNNKKKIIIIINNNS!**" Ray shouted, launching himself to the Shiver Summit Galaxy.

"REALLY?" Luigi groaned as Ray went hurtling off to the galaxy. "A Leeroy Jenkins moment NOW? Ugh, just get the mechanics and let's go…"

"Anyone need coats?" Aeron asked, eying what little of the Galaxy he could see behind Toad.

* * *

We arrived at the Shiver Summit Galaxy to find ourselves at the foot of a vast mountain. Gusts of wind, some gentle, some strong, burst up every now and then, blasting the snow on the ground all up in our faces, obscuring our path from view. The aurora-filled sky was impossible to see, with all the whipping spirals of snow in the air and several puffy white clouds sprinkling snow on us.

"Urgh…" Mario growled, shielding his face from the spray of snow. "I know I've been through blizzards before, but I never said I liked them."

"No one said navigating through a blizzard would be easy," Aeron replied, using a single hand motion to divert the winds-and the snow, along with them-away from him…and towards Axel. While Axel got sprayed by the stinging ice crystals, Aeron asked, "Luigi, can you find their signal?"

"Yeah! They've crashed in a valley; it's right this way!" Luigi replied, pointing. "We just gotta go over this face of the mountain…aw, crap."

"Well, this is just perfect," Axel grumbled, slapping at his _shihakusho_ to get all the snow off it. "Wait, how do you know where their signal is?" Luigi held up a tiny scanning device with a screen, which was flashing red at a certain point. "Oh," Axel muttered, striding forward through the snow.

"Ano…where's Ray?" I asked, adjusting the poncho I found and decided to take from Starship Mario, hoping it would be some protection from the cold. (Why it was there was _completely_ beyond my comprehension.) But it really didn't help against the sheer cold of the Region of Ice, although it did protect me from the winds and the drifting ice that accompanied them.

"I dunno, _you're_ the one who can detect _reiatsu_, Terra," Luigi replied, shrugging. "Why don't you try and sense him?"

Another spray of ice crystals burst up again, showering us with the powdery white sleet. I quickly pulled up the hood on the back of my poncho to protect me from the worst of it, but the needles of ice still seemed to pierce through the thick fabric. Just to make sure there weren't holes in it, I looked down at where my arm was concealed. There weren't any. "Well, THAT was convenient," Mario growled.

I pulled back my hood and then attempted to sense for Ray. "He's…higher up the mountain," I finally declared, pointing. At that moment, an avalanche slashed down that side of the mountain, probably because of the way Ray jumped and yelled "Corn!"

"Alright, then," Aeron decided, turning back to the Lumas. "Luigi and I will accompany you to the Starshroom. Axel, Mario, Terra, you guys press on and see if you can catch up to Ray. I think I can detect Star Power coming from higher up the mountain…"

"_Hai!_" I replied, and we began to run up a steep trail on the mountainside. Brrr Bits moved to intercept us, but I quickly speared them with spikes of earth to immobilize them, and Mario spun into them to destroy them. "We should be able to get to the top soon enough!" I decided.

"Don't be too certain. Look!" Axel shouted, pointing. Up ahead, Boomerang Bros. patrolled the area, throwing their boomerangs at anything that moved. "I'll take care of them!" Axel shouted, raising his chain gun and blasting the Boomerang Bros. to pieces.

"Th-that's brutal," Mario commented, staring at the chain gun.

"And?" Axel motioned for him to continue. At this point, he held up the chain gun, and it disappeared in a flash of silver-blue light. "Trade secret," Axel called out before either of us could ask.

"Oh, crap! Guys, there's ice blocking our path!" Mario interrupted, pointing. "We'll have to level it! Hey, there's a Rock Mushroom here! Cool!" He grabbed the Mushroom and ate it, turning into Rock Mario. "Take this, giant ice thingy!" he shouted, rolling into a boulder and smashing into the ice, shattering it.

"Ano…" I stopped and stared at a part of the trail that had collapsed and now was no longer able to be navigated, and then looked up at a face of rock leading up to a ledge higher up. "We don't have to _climb_ that, do we?"

"Unfortunately, yes, I think we do," Mario replied, grabbing onto rocks and pulling himself up as if he were climbing a ladder. "Geez, it's way too cold now…"

"Really? I feel just fine," Axel noticed, bounding up to the rock face and kicking off the tiny rocks before grabbing onto the ledge we were trying to get up to. "I guess humans have less tolerance to cold, then…"

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, concentrating once more on getting to the ledge before Stardashing there in one smooth motion, stardust pulsating out from my feet. "Are you telling us you're _not_ human, Axel?"

"I'll tell you about it later," Axel replied, helping Mario get to the top of the ledge. "Okay, there's a tunnel up ahead. Wonder where it's going to take us?"

"Let's find out!" Mario shouted, jumping into the tunnel. "Here we goOOOOOOOAAAAAAAA~" The inside of the tunnel was icy, and Mario slipped and slid far down the tunnel.

**EARTH SHATTERING KABOOOOOOOOOOM!**

"…" I stared at a sign sitting right next to the mouth of the tunnel upon which was printed: _CAUTION: ICY FLOOR._ "I wonder if he read that…?" I muttered to myself, climbing into the tunnel and trying not to slide. And that didn't work. "AAAAAAAAAA~!" I screamed, slipping and falling in a strangely comical manner.

"Good job," Axel commented sarcastically, helping me up. "Okay, I'll show you guys how you SHOULD have done this." He began to take long, graceful gliding strides on the ice, not losing his balance once. "Mario, don't you know how to skate? You did so in the Tasty Treat Galaxy."

"I didn't think the tunnel would be icy," Mario replied, scratching the back of his head. Clearly, he hadn't read the sign. He struggled to his feet, and began to skate as well. "Come on, Terra! What're you waiting for?"

"Ano…" I looked down at the icy floor nervously. I'd _never_ skated before…but admitting that would have been _really_ embarrassing in my opinion. I attempted to kick off like Axel did, but… "AAAAAAAAAA~!" I screamed, my feet flying about a meter into the air. I smashed into the ground hard, face first. "I-itai…"

Axel quickly skated over and helped me up. "I'm sorry, is it your first time skating?" he asked, concerned. "You don't have to be shy about it; I won't laugh." I nodded, aware my face was going red. "Okay then, hold on to my hand," Axel commanded, although gently. He began to skate once more, telling me certain tips about skating, and this time, I was actually able to do it!

Mario leaned against the wall at the mouth of the cavern, tapping his foot impatiently, and let out a noisy sigh to get our attention. "When did this become a skating lesson?" he demanded, glaring. "We have an idiot to catch up to! Get moving!"

"Argh, and I was enjoying it," Axel complained, skating towards Mario before gracefully jumping and spiraling out of the cavern, landing on both feet. "Yeah, I know, I'm flashy, blah blah," Axel sighed when Mario opened his mouth. "Come on, Terra, let's go."

The trail took us out of the tunnel to oversee a valley. Mario looked down into the valley. "We're a long way from the bottom, huh?" he asked.

"I think I see a light down there," I mused, squinting to see further into the valley. Suddenly, another gale picked up, blasting me in the face with snow. This time, I had been _completely_ unprepared and had no time to raise my hood. "UWAH!" I screamed, feeling the ice splash across my face. "That felt unpleasant…"

"Something down there?" Axel wondered, peering down. Amazingly, he could see through the whipping snow. "Hey, I think I see a giant red mushroom with smoke coming out of it half buried in a snowdrift. There's a campfire, too, and a bunch of red and tan debris. Wonder what's going on down there?"

"What're you talking about? We'd best take a closer look," Mario replied, stepping forward. But with all the snow flying around, it was impossible to see anything beyond two feet, and before Mario knew it, he slipped and fell down the side of the mountain. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH~!" Mario shouted.

"M-Mario!" I screamed, thrusting out my hand and extending a face of rock out of the mountainside, catching Mario on it. "Are you alright?" I shouted, attempting to see if I caught him. I moved closer…and then the frozen ground beneath me collapsed, causing me to plummet as well. "AAAAAAAAAA~!" I screamed.

Suddenly, an arm grabbed me, and then the falling stopped. Strangely, I continued screaming for a bit. "AAAAAAAAAAAA…what? I stopped falling?" I wondered. "Phew…_arigatou_, Axel…"

"Wasn't me that did it!" I heard Axel shout, although the winds were really blocking him out, so I couldn't discern where his voice came from. "There's some girl holding you!"

"_N-nani?_" I looked up in surprise, but my savior was obscured behind the veil of snow. "Wh-who are you? And why'd you rescue me?"

"With all your screaming, you'd cause so many avalanches it'd be a wonder this mountain's still standing," I heard a female voice chide softly but harshly. "You should really lower your voice."

"H-how did you find me?" I asked, grabbing onto the side of the cliff and hoping my vertigo wouldn't be triggered. "It's impossible to see through any of this snow blowing around!"

There was a pause, and then the voice answered, "I heard you. That was enough."

I tried to contemplate how whoever saved me used _hearing_ to find me, but then I heard Axel shout, "Terra! Drop down! There's a ledge just underneath you!"

"A ledge?" I repeated, dropping down. Sure enough, solid rock met my feet. But I wasn't sure how narrow the ledge was, so I clung to the rock wall, slowly inching to the side, until suddenly I fell forward into a cave. "UWAH!" I screamed, falling face first. "Itai…" I slowly struggled up and then fell against the wall, breathing hard. "That was scary…"

I looked back at the cave mouth, watching Axel walk in, dragging Mario, who appeared to be frozen for some reason. "He ran into a Brrr Bit," Axel explained. "This snow and wind is getting _really_ bothersome. I can see through it, but you and Mario…if it doesn't let up, we'll _never_ find Ray."

"ARGH!" Mario shouted, breaking out of the ice. "Brrr! It's cold!" Axel rolled his eyes at this. "I'll warm it up a bit!" He grabbed a Fire Flower and hurled fireballs at the ground, lighting a fire quickly. "We'll be much warmer now than Ray probably is!" Mario declared.

"Ray…" I began to worry about him, huddling in my poncho. "The Speed Star World had a tropical climate, so it's definitely much colder here…I wonder if he can survive out there?"

"We'll try and find him after the winds die down a little. For now, we'll have to warm up," Axel decided. "I called whoever saved you over here. She shouldn't take too long to find her way here."

"Indeed; I'm right here," we suddenly heard. We turned and saw a girl walking in. She had wavy silver hair which fell past her shoulders, and detached, cerulean sleeves which stretched from above the elbow to the hand, leaving the fingers uncovered. She was wearing a light blue sleeveless dress down past her knees (not very fancy, if you're wondering). Light blue stockings ran up above her knees. The thing that caught my eye was the cerulean pendant around her neck on a silver chain. Designed on it was a pale blue snowflake with two hexagons composing its center.

"Err…aren't you cold?" I asked awkwardly, eying how little she seemed to be wearing that would suit her well against the weather. Considering the sleeves and stockings, I guess she was okay, but…

"No, I'm perfectly fine," the girl replied, sitting down. "I'm used to this kind of cold. And if you're wondering what I'm doing here, I wasn't climbing this mountain for fun; there was something at the top which I'm here to obtain."

"Wh-who are you exactly?" Mario asked.

The girl looked up at us with a look that didn't exactly seem welcoming, and I was startled by how pale her eyes looked. "My name is Crystal."

"The symbol on your pendant…" Axel mused. "I assume, then, that you've met the _Hy__ōkekkai _(Ice Barrier) Tribe before?"

"What?" both Mario and I asked.

Crystal looked a bit surprised by Axel knowing that, but nodded. "In fact, I'm one of them," she added. "It's on their behalf that I'm here now."

"I thought so. That explains the symbol; I noticed it was that of the _Hy__ōkekkai_," Axel said. Before we could ask any other questions, Axel got up and declared, "The wind's died down. We can now safely get out there…and hopefully, find out what was down there, anyway."

* * *

I seemed to have made _many _silly moves in this Galaxy…like taking a step outside the cave without realizing that the ledge outside was barely half a meter long. "AAAAAAAAAA~!" I screamed, immediately falling down the hill. Suddenly, a barrier of ice quickly appeared beneath me, catching me in midair. "Phew…" I quickly looked away, not wanting my vertigo to go off again. "Who did that?"

My eyes widened when I saw that Crystal had her hand outstretched, shining with icy, cerulean colored energy. "Try not to fall; you'll make a heck lot of mess down there," she commanded.

"Y-you have ice power?" I asked, climbing back up onto the ledge. "That must be why you don't feel so cold…"

"Alright, time's up, let's do this! LEEEEEROOOOOOOOYYYYYY~ JEEEEEENNNKKKIIIIINNNS!" we suddenly heard someone holler from high up on the mountain. Shortly followed up by an avalanche.

"Oh, god," Mario groaned. "Will he ever stop? Sigh…come on, guys, let's get out of the way of the avalanche!"

I began to comply, but then looked back, curious about the mushroom Axel saw…and then noticed Toads were standing around the Mushroom, which was cracked open to reveal it was a _spaceship_! "Mario! _Maté!" _I shouted, pointing at the valley. "The Toad Brigade's down there!"

"T-The mushroom Axel saw was the _Starshroom?_" Mario shouted. "Crap! Terra, do something!"

"I don't think I can do anything at this point," I replied, worried now. "Raising a wall of earth would only slow it down, but not stop it!" I whirled to Crystal. "Crystal-san! Can you do something?"

"Hm? What do you want me to do?" Crystal retorted, turning. I didn't like the cold look she gave me, but I quickly told her about the Toad Brigade. "So you want to help your friends, eh?" she summarized. Then she snorted. "What good will it do you? People are lonely by nature. Friendship is something people who aren't competent enough to fight for themselves use."

"That's not true!" I protested. "Friendship isn't for the weak people; it's a great strength!"

Crystal sighed. "If you knew what I went through for one moment of my life, you'd understand." At that moment, her cerulean _reiatsu_ flared out violently, freezing the avalanche dead in its tracks! It was now coated in a thick covering of ice.

"H-how did you do that?" Mario breathed, amazed. "And more importantly, _why_ did you do that? You were just saying reasons why we _shouldn't_ help our friends!"

"Look down," Crystal replied calmly. We looked down, and were shocked to see that she had also frozen us…IN PLACE! "It was my _reiatsu_ fluctuating; almost anything that is influenced by my _reiatsu_ is frozen," Crystal explained.

"O…k…then," Mario said lamely, grabbing a Fire Flower from his pocket and melting the ice. "Okay! Let's go down and greet the Toad Brigade!" He ran down another trail built into the mountain that slowly zigzagged, gently bringing us down the steep valley.

"Mario, shouldn't we be searching for Ray?" I asked, following him. "Luigi and Aeron should be on their way with the meteor shards, too…"

Axel closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. "Unfortunately, Aeron and Luigi seem to be encountering some trouble. It seems that several avalanches and a tornado of snow are hindering them."

"_Nani?_ So they're stuck?" I repeated, panic immediately surging over me.

"Don't worry, Aeron's taking care of things," Axel continued. "But it'll take them some time to get here. In the meantime, I guess we should help the Toad Brigade in any way we can."

"Hey, guys!" Mario shouted, jumping down the last part of the trail. "I'm here to rescue you!"

"M-Mario!" the lead Toad shouted, happy to see the plumber. "Y-You came! B-But…where's L-Luigi? A-And didn't you guys say you were g-going to bring us parts?"

"Well…we split up," Mario explained. "Luigi was going to bring the parts and mechanics, while I was going to get another Star. But it's taking Luigi some time to get here…"

"That's going to be a problem," a Green Toad grunted, swinging his pickaxe at the snow that the Starshroom was half buried in. "We're going to need those parts and mechanics ASAP!"

"Oh! T-That's right, Mario! W-We forgot to tell you!" Toad suddenly piped up. A Blue Toad and a Pink Toad brought forward a water tank with a nozzle, a belt and two handles. "W-We brought F.L.U.D.D. for you to use!"

"Oh! You brought F.L.U.D.D.? That's great!" Mario exclaimed, raising his hands to take the device. "Hey, F.L.U.D.D.! How's it going?"

"_Not too well,"_ the device replied. _"All the water I was carrying is frozen. I'm not going to be of much assistance now…"_

"H-he-he talks?" I screamed, pointing at F.L.U.D.D.

F.L.U.D.D. obviously didn't like being talked about like that. An edge entered his tone as he retorted, _"Of course I talk. What do you think I am, an oversized water pistol?"_

"All the water's frozen, huh?" Mario asked. "I think we can solve that. Good thing I stockpile these things for emergencies." He raised another Fire Flower and covered himself in its pollen, then hurled fireballs at one point quickly, creating a rather large fire. "Okay! Hope this is hot enough to melt the ice!"

"We didn't have any Fire Flowers to use; glad you had several," Toad commented, huddling near the fire. "Our supplies are running low, too…"

"NO! YOU DON'T HAVE ANY TASTY SHROOMS LEFT?" Mario hollered. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAA~!" And then he started running around screaming for some reason, crashing into the Starshroom.

"…I only said they were running _low_, not we were completely out of it," Toad muttered. "Anyway…I guess Star Bits would work. Do you have any of those?"

"Y-Yeah! We have a lot of them!" I replied, reaching into my pockets and giving the Toad Brigade about 100 Star Bits which I had seen on our way across the mountain, surging from the sky and piercing the clouded heavens. I had sent my Luma to collect as many as she could hope to. "Hope it's enough…"

"It should be able to allow us to last while we wait for Luigi," Toad replied. "Thanks, uh…"

"Ah, I'm Terra," I quickly replied, then I gestured towards Axel. "And this is Axel. Um…" Not really sure what to say to him because he was the Captain, I bowed and added, "Pleased to meet you…sir!"

"Okay, Terra, then. It's nice to meet you, too!" Toad replied, smiling because of the respect I showed to him.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Axel roll his own. "And yet, _Toad _should be bowing to _Terra_," he muttered to himself.

"Hey, guys!" we suddenly heard. And then, Luigi, Aeron, and their group of Lumas walked out of a nearby tunnel, holding the meteor shards.

"Luigi! You're here!" the Toads shouted, happy that Luigi…or rather, what he had been carrying, had arrived safely. "And you brought the…meteors?"

"Lubba explained that meteor shards can be used for metal," Luigi replied. "Mario and I can melt it into the right shape with our Fire Flowers…I think…"

"But how do you bend it?" Toad demanded impatiently. "You won't even be able to TOUCH it! Unless the Lumas can use their power to magically shape it-"

"Which we do," a Luma interjected. "The only problem is, the Fire Flowers are weak, so we'll take far too long making each individual p-"

**FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**

Everything stopped the moment Aeron unsheathed his _Zanpaku-to_ and unleashed a stream of flame into the air. In fact, even though there shouldn't have been any around, you could only hear crickets chirping as soon as the jet of flame stopped. "Have flame, will battle," Aeron announced smugly. "Or in this case, melt stuff."

"…um…" Toad shrank away immediately. "G-go ahead. I have no clue what you'll do, but I guess it'll work…"

Aeron calmly shot a white fireball at several meteors, melting them into one large piece of metal…which immediately became EXACTLY the right shape it needed to be. "100% epicness," Aeron declared.

"Er…alright…okay, Luigi, let's do this!" Mario shouted, having recovered from smashing headfirst into the Starshroom. At that point the Fire Flower he had used a couple moments ago wore off. "D'oh," Mario muttered, pulling out a second one. "Okay. NOW we'll do it!"

"Saaaay…" Aeron said to Axel as Mario and Luigi bombarded the meteors with fire and the Lumas bent the metal into the right shape, then used their power to levitate each piece and place it delicately in its proper position. "Didn't we tell you guys to head UP the mountain to get Ray back?"

"Mario's idea to come down here, not mine," Axel innocently replied.

"If you want, Axel and I could still head up the mountain," I offered. "And C-" That's when I suddenly realized: Crystal was GONE. In fact, after the scene with the avalanche, I couldn't even remember her coming with us. "Ano…so, should Axel and I go right now?" I asked, beginning to walk towards the path.

"Go ahead," Aeron replied. "You're going to have to move _really_ fast to find Ray now."

Axel and I quickly used _Shun-po_ and Stardash, respectively, to appear back at the place where Mario and I had fallen off the slope what seemed like so long ago now. "Alright! Now we can finally see where we were _supposed_ to go…aw, crap," Axel groaned as the wind picked up once more, clouding our path again.

"If we keep a hand on the wall, we'll be just fine," I replied, remembering where the side of the mountain was and walking towards it. Keeping a hand placed on it, I began to walk forward. "Hopefully we're going the right way…"

Axel began to stride forward, ignoring all the needles of snow that buried themselves in his arm. "It seems we'll have to be more alert; with our vision blocked, the Koopa Troop could strike without us even knowing it. My vision's more acute, but I think this wind's the worst one there's been for a while."

"You mean Shade could be here?" I asked. "Didn't Luigi shove him into a closet and lock it in the Star Stronghold?"

"He must've broken out at some point," Axel replied, blasting a Goomba that was running down the road which I completely failed to see with _Ketatamashi Getsu_. "Because I believe I saw him in the Tasty Treat Galaxy. Also…where exactly do you think Crystal went?"

I shrugged. "I don't know what _reiatsu_ is hers out here. Also, doesn't it seem strange that she didn't even need to be able to see to rescue me? I don't think anyone would be able to do it without using sight…"

"You don't know that," Axel interjected, pulling me away from the wall to cross a bridge made of ice that spanned an enourmous chasm. "This is a big universe we live in, Terra. Neither you nor I nor anything short of a god could know everything about it."

"I always thought you had godlike powers," I admitted sheepishly, feeling myself blush.

Axel grinned. "I have godlike _awesomeness_, though," he bragged, although not in a way to make me feel like I wanted to crawl under a rock and die.

Suddenly, as we finished crossing the bridge, there was a rumbling and a roaring, and before we knew it, an avalanche was coming down in front of us! "What? Oh no! I didn't see it!" I cried, raising my hands and bringing a shield of earth in front of us, causing the avalanche to crash down on either side of us.

"Powers of observation lie with the mind," Axel noted. "Sight isn't something completely necessary, you know."

"You mean…Crystal could've _heard_ it coming?" I asked, surprised. "I've never heard of anyone who could train themselves to do that…"

"WHOA! WHAT THE CRAP?" Axel shouted, and he whipped up his chain gun.

"_N-nani?"_ Out of nowhere, there was the sound of a puff of smoke, and before I knew it, everything went numb! And then when I could think again, I found a number of destroyed Brrr Bits lying on the ground. "Whoa…" I murmured in surprise. "I never even _noticed_ them…"

"Perhaps navigating with hearing would be something you should invest a lot of your time in," Axel commented, walking over to help me up. "The air's getting colder; I think we're nearing the top."

"Yes!" I cried with happiness. "We should move a bit faster, though; Ray's probably freezing now."

As it turned out, with a couple more strides, Axel and I suddenly found ourselves looking up at the auroras of the Region of Ice. But then we looked down, and it turned out we were down to our waists in…clouds! "Wow, we've actually pierced the clouds," Axel commented. "That being the case…" His voice trailed off, and in front of us, I could see no snow at all!

"Whoa, there's no snow here?" I asked, reaching to take off my poncho. "If that's so, I don't think I'll be needing my p-"

"Keep it on," Axel ordered, shaking his head. "While the snow's stopped, it's still really cold out here. That might not be the best protection against the cold, but it's enough."

We began to travel up the summit, but then we ran into a massive legion of Goombas! "When did they all get up here?" I wondered.

"Ha! Missed me, guys?" we suddenly heard. We looked up, and saw Shade standing on an Airship! "I trust you've been keeping well?" Shade asked, smirking.

"Shade!" I shouted, walking forward. "Where are Ray and Crystal?"

"How _they're_ doing is currently not important," Shade replied, raising his arm in front of his chest. "But what IS important…is if I crush you here and now!" He thrust his arm to the side, and the airship's cannons came to life, blasting cannonballs at us mercilessly.

* * *

**Boss: Shade**

"Great, now we're going to get pwned by chunks of metal and pathetic Mooks," Axel muttered, raising his chain gun and shooting down numerous Goombas in his path. "Seriously, Shade, can't you do _anything_ more impressive?"

"I could fire Bullet Bills if you want," Shade offered.

"NO, THANK YOU!" Axel shouted, punching a cannonball out of existance with _Tsukiren._ "Bullet Bills are the _last_ thing I'd want to fight today!"

I created two massive emerald spikes in midair and sent them both at Shade's Airship. "_Sugoya (Take this)!_" I shouted, jumping up and punching the ground, sending an earthquake pulsating out in all directions, wiping out all the remaining Goombas.

Shade's Airship swiftly dodged out of the way of the spikes. "Too slow!" Shade declared, jumping down and folding his arms and legs, causing shadows to ripple through the air and gather right in front of him. "Shadow Meteor!" he shouted, flinging out his arms and legs and sending a great black burst of shadow with dark energy crackling violently outside it at us.

"Look out!" I cried, and Axel and I jumped away as the meteor crashed into the ground, triggering a violent explosion of shadow and debris all over the path, blowing us in opposite directions. It even began to crack the earth, tearing a vast fissure into the mountainside! "A-Axel!" I shouted, for I was on one side of the new crevase, and he was on the other side!

"I'll take care of Shade, Terra!" Axel shouted. "Go on and figure out what happened to Ray!" He jumped over another Shadow Meteor and then raised his sword, causing it to burst into silver blue energy. "_Rule over the Midnight Heavens, Shiruba-Getsu!"_ Axel shouted, but before his gauntlets finished manifesting, he blurred and disappeared.

"He disappeared!" Shade exclaimed, but then Axel suddenly blurred back into view behind him and activated the blades on his gauntlets, shearing through the deck as Shade launched himself over Axel. "Grrr…why do you guys make me have to get a new Airship just about every time I meet you?" Shade grumbled.

"Cause if you had an Airship every time we met you, that'd be just annoying," Axel replied, raising his gauntlet, which suddenly shone with silver energy. "Now, take this! _Tsukiren_!" He whirled around and lashed out with the shining silver wave of energy.

Shade dove to the ground as the remains of his airship were ripped apart by the silver wave of energy, and his troops jumped off the deck onto my side of the crevase. "Well, crap. There goes a perfectly good Airshi-OH MY GOD!" Shade shouted, jumping away as Axel came bearing down on him.

Numerous tiny people in cloaks and masks flew using some kind of helicopter blades placed on their heads, trying to ram me off the cliff. But each time, I dodged them and encased them in rocks, trapping the Shy Guys. (Mario told me what they were called later.) Before the remaining ones could regroup and attack again, I hurried up the remaining part of the path to the summit. "Ray!" I shouted. "Are you up there?"

What came next was…an avalanche. Even though there should've have been any snow up there. "HEY! WHOA! CUT IT OUT, CRAZY LADY!" I heard Ray's voice shout as I grabbed the wall to keep myself from being swept away by the great wave of snow.

Knowing how much trouble he probably was in, I pulled myself higher up onto the wall, then jumped to grab another outcrop before I could fall into the snow. "Hold on, Ray, I'm co-" I began, but then I stopped short as a flash of light brought a large creature in a blue robe in front of me.

This creature held a golden scepter with a bright crimson ruby set in its top, and an azure blue wizard's hat. The brim of the hat and edges of his sleeves were white, and he rode on a broomstick. His eyes were hidden by a pair of round spectacles, and aside from his yellow face and hands, I couldn't tell anything about his physical appearance. "Why hello, your Freezingness," he greeted me, sneering.

"Freezingness?" I asked, confused. "What's that?"

"It's a title, your Denseness," the wizard continued. "I am Kamek. Sent here by King Bowser to stop you." He raised his staff, revealing that trapped inside the gem set on top of it was a Star! In fact, _multiple_ Stars! "Watch as my magical magic which is magical summons your defeat!" (Honestly, how many times can you say "magic" or "magical" in one sentence?)

* * *

**Boss: Kamek**

At this moment, the snowslide subsided, but Kamek raised his staff and blasted a green spell at me, which bounced onto the ground and turned into a Green Shell! I jumped out of the way, but the Shell riccocheted off a rock and slammed into me from behind! "Ow!" I cried, falling. Then, the owner of the Green Shell, a Koopa, popped out and began to chase after me! Kamek prepared another spell, blue this time, and out popped an Octoomba, which hurled a rock in my direction. Just as I ducked under it, the Koopa rammed into me!

"Ahahahahaha!" Kamek laughed, raising his wand and firing a silver blast, unleashing a Bully-a black sphere with eyes, green feet and two pointy golden horns. The Bully tried to ram me into a rock, but I quickly jumped over it, completely forgetting the horns. Kamek smirked as I screamed when I unintentionally impaled myself on one of the horns, then prepared two bronze spells and flung them, unleashing two Goombas which didn't waste any time running at me as I attempted to un-impale my leg on the Bully's horn.

"Stop it!" I shouted, jumping away before the Goombas could finish their attack. Only a minor wound had been dealt, but my experience with the bully had hurt _a lot_. Hearing the Goombas coming closer, I grimaced; I knew I had to get rid of all of those troops _fast_. I whirled around and blasted a storm of emeralds at the oncoming troops. The Goombas and the Octoomba were destroyed, but the Koopa retreated into his shell, and to my shock, the Bully wasn't affected at all!

"I'll just summon and summon and summon some more!" Kamek chortled, blasting five green spells, creating five shells. At the same time, the Koopa from earlier came spinning in his shell. I jumped over the first one, slid on my back under the second one, dashed away from the third, spun away the fourth, and destroyed the fifth with an emerald, but then the last one smashed into me, sending me flying. Kamek summoned three more Bullies, all of which charged at me to push me off the cliff.

I ran away from the remaining troops, who were hot on my heels. Right now, the best idea seemed to be to attack Kamek. However, there was a ditch lying in the path which I somehow missed and fell in. The Koopas struck head-on immediately. Two bright red fireballs flew from Kamek's staff now, burning the snow in their path. I quickly jumped out of the ditch before they could hit, and allowed one to smash a Koopa off the edge. "Some help would _really_ be nice…" I muttered.

"Terra! Hold on! We're coming!"

"Huh?" I looked back at the path from which I just came from, to see Mario and Luigi running up the path. "Mario! Luigi! You guys are here!" I shouted, happy I now had some help to fight back. "But where's Axel?"

"He was fighting Shade earlier," Mario replied. "He told us to go on ahead while he held off Shade." He looked up at Kamek and growled. "Kamek. I should've known you'd eventually come to battle us!"

"I also knew I'd be fighting you at some point," Kamek replied casually, raising his wand to unleash another spell. "Now take THIS!" He launched a dark grey spell, which turned immediately into a Bomb-omb!

"WHAT THE F-" Mario began.

**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**

"Ow," Mario groaned as he got to his feet. "Okay, prepare for ownage, Kamek!"

"Ownage? Ha! I think not!" Kamek replied, smirking. "You can't _hope_ to defeat this army which I am summoning to battle you with!" He sent some bronze and dark brown spells at us, creating more Goombas and some moles, who charged Mario and Luigi.

"It'll take more than that to defeat us!" Mario shouted, holding up a Mushroom-shaped window. "Let's go, Luigi!" The two opened the window and jumped inside, and before the Goombas could hit it, it closed and swirled away, disappearing.

"_Nani? _W-where'd they go?" I wondered, looking around. The army was advancing, so I decided it would be best to put some distance between us.

"OVER HE-ERE~!" Mario suddenly called out, and the window appeared high above Kamek, flinging Mario out, who stomped on Kamek's head and jumped into an _identical_ window, which disappeared before Kamek could launch a fireball at him.

Then, the window appeared next to Kamek. "Yo, Kamek! What's up?" Luigi called out, jumping out and bouncing off his head into the waiting window. Immediately, another window appeared DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF KAMEK, and Luigi bounced out, stomped Kamek in the head, and disappeared into another window.

"GAH! STOP IT!" Kamek shouted, flinging spells at each appearing window. But he was always a couple seconds late before the window disappeared.

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEE~!" Mario and Luigi hollered as they dropped out of the window directly above Kamek, smashing him in the head and landing in front of them. "So, how do you like our power, Kamek?" Mario asked, smiling.

"It's not bad," Kamek replied before disappearing and then reappearing further up the mountain. "But still not enough to defeat me!" He raised his wand and launched a bright red spell, causing two turtles with spiked red shells to pop out of the ground and charge at Mario and Luigi.

Mario and Luigi quickly held up Ice Flowers and turned transparent, unleashing icy energy to freeze the Spinies and skate towards Kamek. "Really, Kamek, come and fight us yourself!" Mario shouted. "This isn't funny anymore!"

I grabbed a Koopa Shell and threw it to Mario. "Mario! Here!" I shouted. Mario kicked the shell straight at Kamek, who was sent flying by the impact.

"And to finish it off!" Luigi shouted, climbing up the rocks and freezing Kamek's staff to seal off his magic, then kicking Kamek in the face.

"NOOOOOOO!" Kamek shouted, flying away as all his minions randomly disappeared. "I will return! Wait, WHAT?" We looked back and saw that one of his Stars had escaped from his staff. "No! I must retrieve it!" Kamek shouted, racing back towards the Star.

"Don't even think about it!" I shouted, kicking a Green Shell at him and sending him flying off his broom, into the clouds.

It took a while for me to run to where Mario and Luigi were. "Glad you guys made it; I don't think I could stand up against Kamek that long," I panted.

"The trick to battling Kamek is to ignore all the troops," Mario explained. "Don't waste your time trying to take out every single frickin' minion! Just focus completely on him!"

"We'd better find Ray now," Luigi decided. We ran up to the top of the mountain. "Ray!" Luigi shouted. "We're here to save you from…WAIT, WHAT?"

Ray froze in mid-Falcon Punch when he saw us. And standing in front of him, poised to do the same was… "CRYSTAL?" I practically screamed. "What're you doing fighting Ray?"

"He attacked," Crystal replied calmly. "I retaliated."

"Well, I got up here and found the Star, but then it disappeared right when she came!" Ray explained. "So I thought she took it!"

"But that was never what I was aiming for when I came here," Crystal told us, walking past Ray. "This is what I was looking for." She waved her hand and caused a large snowdrift to dissolve in the wind.

"Wh-what is _that_?" Luigi wondered, staring at what was directly underneath the snowdrift. It was a golden medallion with the symbol for the_ Hy__ōkekkai_ on it, and connected to a string of orange beads.

"The Crest of the _Hy__ōkekkai_. A long lost treasure," Crystal explained. "I was sent here to obtain it. And now all I need to do is to return to my home."

"You could use our Starship to help you get back to your home!" Mario offered. "We can travel pretty far in a day!"

"But if you do, there's something we'll have to ask," Luigi said sternly. "We're traveling to different galaxies to find Stars like the one which Ray thought you had. So if you want to comes with us, I think we'd need your power, so you'll have to help us."

"I work better alone," Crystal replied rather rudely. "As much as I'd like quick transport back home, I don't think I'll travel with you. The only thing I can focus on is the duty the _Hy__ōkekkai_ has given me. Besides, why would you want to waste the time which you devoted to your duty to help someone like me?"

"Because we don't believe our duty is the only thing we should care about," I answered. "As much as the universe needs us to save it, we believe our first priority…is helping others."

"That's the way an undevoted person speaks," Crystal retorted in her soft but harsh voice. "If you just put others before your duty, eventually, you'll just completely lose your path. Don't you understand how hard it will become to achieve your goal if you go out of your way to help others?"

"We're perfectly fine with going any distance to do it," Mario replied. "The decision is made: You're coming with us. Both we and you benefit from it, can't you see?"

Crystal was silent, and then finally shrugged. "Suit yourself," she replied. "But your duty will be hampered; I need to get back to the _Hy__ōkekkai_ immediately."

"Okay then," Mario replied. "Seeing as we have the Starshroom to help us now, multitasking should be easy!"

**WE GOT A STAR!**

* * *

"We're back!" Ray declared as we landed back on the Starship, Kamek's Star in hand. "And we got the Star!"

"Welcome back, Leeroy Jenkins," Lubba greeted, rather annoyed at the events that transpired a while ago. Then he looked at Crystal with some surprise. "I see you've brought someone new to our Starship again! So…who's the girl?"

"This is Crystal," I explained. "She's using Starship Mario to get back to her home, the _Hy__ōkekkai_."

"Whoa! The _Hy__ōkekkai_?" Lubba practically hollered. "She belongs to that legendary tribe of wielders of ice? That's incredible!"

At this moment, there were the sounds of engines, and we saw the Starshroom flying towards the Starship. Aeron and Axel were standing on top, waving. Then a beam of light went from a pad in Starship Mario's right ear to the bottom of the Starshroom. Axel and Aeron jumped into the light and turned into spheres of energy which traveled along this beam, bringing them back to the Starship. "We're back, and we have another spaceship!" Aeron declared. Then he saw Crystal and frowned. "Wait, who's this?"

We quickly explained what was going on. "Oh, so you need to get back to the _Hy__ōkekkai_'s village?" Axel asked. "That's good. I think we have some friends there, right Aeron?"

"Yeah," Aeron replied, nodding. When he saw our surprised faces, he explained, "Axel and I have been there before. We have some friends there."

"Okay, then, off to the _Hy__ōkekkai_ we go!" Mario declared, grabbing the wheel and flying off.

"Wait, we're not even stopping to grab Stars?" Lubba asked, shocked.

"The Starshroom can do that," Luigi replied. "What we need is to get to Crystal's home ASAP!"

"Great! A Speed Run!" Axel commented, faking happiness. "By the way, the Toad Brigade found a Star while they were crashlanded, so they're planning on giving it to you."

"Great!" Mario cheered. "So, Lubba, bring up the holomap and figure out where energy from other Stars are coming from. Everyone except me (because I am so awesome) get moving to find Stars!"

Needless to say, none of the boys reacted pleasantly to this.


	24. At the End of Emotions Woven by Bonds

**Traveler's Log 21: At the End of Emotions Woven by Bonds**

**Stars: 24**

**Ray**

* * *

Time can go by for indefinite amounts of time, but it won't stop me from thinking about the people I've met on my journey, and remembering the bonds I shared with them…most of all my friends. Even when they're not physically by my side, I feel like they're still helping me out…

* * *

Now, Starship Mario hurtled into the chilly air at full speed towards a place called the _Hy__ōkekkai_, our new traveling companion Crystal's homeland. "Alright, now we're passing by the Spooky Snowy Galaxy. Hmm, I wonder who should we have go to this Galaxy?" Lubba wondered, looking at the Holomap. While we were headed to the _Hy__ōkekkai_, we wanted to collect Stars on the way for Starship Mario to have enough power to get through most gravity fields, and any other harsh conditions we may encounter. "Its temperature is…moderate, it seems."

"I guess I'll go," I decided, standing up. "Hey, Aeron, how about you?"

"…nah," Aeron, who was sitting on the guardrail opposite Lubba, decided. "I think I'll sit this one out. There's some…business I have here."

"LAZY!" I shouted, jabbing a finger at him. Aeron glared at me before walking away. "Well, I guess I'd better ask the others if they'd want to come…" I got up and jumped off the deck to look for the others. First I ran into Mario, who was apparently breakdancing. "Hey, Mario, we're about to pass another Galaxy. You wanna come with me?"

"Well, sure I'd like to-ZOMG TASTY SHROOMS!" Mario shouted, running at a Shroom which was sitting around on the ground.

"Hey! Mario! Are you…daw, forget it," I grumbled, stalking away. Next, I found Terra drinking some tea that the Lumas had prepared. "Hey, Terra, I'm going to get another Star. You wanna come with me?"

"Ano…I'd like to, except I'm still kind of recovering from our last journey," Terra replied, lifting her leg up to reveal many deep gashes in it. Earlier, we (offscreen) attempted to get some Stars, but we were in a place where there was a lot of jagged rock as well as plenty of ice to make you slide into it. "I don't know how long it'll be before I can go out again…_Gomenosai_."

"Urgh…fine," I sighed. I then found Axel, but he was sleeping, so that immediately knocked him off the list. Luigi had just gone off to get another Star, so that ruled him out, too. "Fine then, I'll just go alone," I decided, walking to a warp pad to the Starshroom.

Except when I got there, my heart sank; Crystal was on the Starshroom, waiting for me. "Crystal's willing to go with you!" Toad told me.

Crystal nodded, not even bothering to turn towards me. "I suppose the sooner we find those Stars, the quicker our journey will be, so I'll help you for this one."

Going with Crystal wasn't really an idea I liked; she didn't work together with anyone. Her fighting style had as much chance of killing you in the crossfire as it did killing your opponents on purpose. "Hey, relax, Ray!" the Blue Toad said, noticing how tense I was. "You're a seasoned fighter when it comes to using your powers! What could possibly go wrong?"

"Everything," I muttered to myself before telling the Toad to activate the Starshroom's personal engines to head to the Spooky Snowy Galaxy.

* * *

The first thing I did as soon as the Starshroom landed was curse Lubba. It _still_ felt cold. And worse, it was dark. We stood in front of a dark mansion, and though a full moon shone on us, a thick blanket of snow covered the ground, and more cascaded from the sky. The trees all around were crooked and decaying, casting eerie shadows longing to grasp us with their bony fingers. All in all, not a very comforting picture. "This is kind of…scary," Toad worried.

"We'd better get moving. That Star won't collect itself," Crystal told me, as if it wasn't obvious. Strangely, she seemed oblivious to the scenery around us, despite the fact that it stank of DEATH.

**DUN, DUN, DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!**

"That really helped the mood," I grumbled to myself, walking around the snow-covered grounds. "C'mon, let's search the gardens."

"Err…we'll head inside the mansion!" Toad shouted. "Alright, gang, move out!" The Toad Brigade tried the door, but it was locked. So Toad got into the Starshroom and lifted a Blue Toad with glasses to the roof. The Blue Toad threw down a rope, which the other Toads climbed up. "We'll unlock the door from the other side!" Toad called as a Green Toad smashed open a window with a pickaxe and they all jumped in.

"Hope they hurry up," I muttered. "The mansion is probably a lot warmer." Given that this was an abandoned mansion we were at, the garden was in serious disarray. Most of the plants were dead; the few that remained seemed to be very sick, and the paths we walked on were overgrown with decaying plant matter. A fountain, oddly in the shape of Bowser, was trapped by the water it once spewed out, now frozen in an icy flower.

"I wonder why this flower's leaves are curling and brown?" I wondered, bending down. "Could it be that these aren't plants native to the Region of Ice?" Suddenly, I noticed a certain flower. The flower was shaped like an eight pointed star, and wrinkled and brown petals splayed out on top of a wreath of round green leaves, now spotted with black from sickness. It was a _Taiyou_ flower, native to the Speed Star World. Who was the owner of this mansion, and how did he get a flower from so far away?

"Hm…I think I hear growling sounds coming from the flowerbeds…" Crystal noted. "Perhaps there's a not so friendly beast in these parts…"

Suddenly, Venus Fire Traps burst from the beds! Except they were pale blue with sky blue dots instead of black with red dots. (Yeah, we forgot to mention that Venus Fire Traps are black and red.) "Oh crap! Venus Fire Traps! What're they doing here?" I shouted. "And what's up with their color?"

Crystal made no comments about their color, strangely enough. I half expected her to tell me it was perfectly normal, but she didn't. "Watch out, they seem to be hungry…and _we_ may very well be their next meal," she warned.

"Hey, how do you know they're hungry?" I asked. "Can you speak to plants or something?"

"No, the tone which they growled in made it seem that way," Crystal replied. "But anyway, we'll let them know we're not on the menu!" At this moment, the "Venus Fire Traps" reared back and spat out blasts of…ice? "Their assault is beginning!" Crystal shouted. "Get ready!"

I took a couple moments to wonder why they were shooting ice, then decided I'd get killed doing that and somersaulted over a blast. Then I ran at the Venus Fire…actually, we should say Ice Trap and unleashed a lot of light on it. The plant clearly wasn't accustomed to so much light and shrieked, dying. "Ha! Epic right, Crysta…O3O"

Crystal was pulling in cerulean energy out of the air around the Venus Ice Traps, and they screeched and withered up. "They live in a chilly environment. If I remove the chilly air from around them, then they should die," she reasoned when I asked. "Now, let's keep looking." She walked away from me at this moment.

A garden shed stood at the end of the gardens. "Hey Crystal, look, it's a shed here!" I shouted, running up to it. "Maybe there's something important in there!" When Crystal didn't come, I walked in myself…and found myself making eye contact. With a giant eye. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~" I screamed, running out of the shed as fast as I could. As soon as I got out, I whirled around and slammed the door shut. "That was…kinda freaky…" I gasped while attempting to catch my breath.

"Calm down," Crystal called, walking over. "What happened? That scream was just about deafening."

"Giant…eye…" I gasped. "In the…house…" I slowly attempted to open the door again, and was treated to the eye staring at us…and firing a red eye laser. "AAAAAAAAA!" I screamed, falling onto the ground to avoid the attack. Crystal jumped to the side to avoid it. "God…I can't fight that thing without getting freaked out!" I muttered.

The eye continued shooting lasers at us. Without even flinching when they saw eye-to-eye, Crystal dodged all the lasers. "Ray!" she shouted. "You have powers of light…use them on that eye! Surely he won't be able to fight or move if he's blinded!"

"Uh, right!" I launched my own white laser through the red, and just when the eye made eye contact, that put it in EXACTLY the right place for my laser to enter its pupil. It screeched and turned upwards, attempting to regain its vision. "Quick! Crystal, get it now!"

Immediately, Crystal drew her hand back. Ice gathered around her fist, turning into a blazing cerulean falcon. Then she brought it down on the eye. "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

**KA-BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!**

The impact from the Falcon Punch was enough to blast the eye through the wall. Crystal landed on the ground, then grimaced. "Ugh, what did that thing use for his eye drops," she grumbled, attempting to get rid of some clear scum that had apparently been on the eye. She froze the scum and shattered it, leaving her skin completely clear of it. "That was somewhat inconvenient," she sighed. "Should we enter the mansion now?"

"I dunno, it looks kinda unwelcome," I said, tensing up. At this moment, numerous pale blue bats flew down from the roof, attempting to ram us. I quickly destroyed them with lasers. "Although the Star's energy seems to be coming from the mansion," I continued, my heart sinking.

"So it's probably best to enter the mansion now," Crystal concluded. "Let's go." She walked boldly forward up the steps, and attempted to open the door…

Except it was locked. "The Toad Brigade didn't open it? Crap, that ruins things," I growled. "I guess we'd better find the key."

"Key?" Crystal repeated. "Funnily enough, I happen to have found one while you looked in the shed. Hold on." She tapped against the door and waited. I noticed that as she did so, she pulled the key out of her pocket and ran her fingers along it several times.

"Uh, are you sure it's the right one?" I asked as she jammed it in. "For all you know, that could've been the key for that shed-"

Crystal yanked open the door. "The echoes of my tapping the door allowed me to hear and understand the internal structure of the lock," she explained. "And at the same time, I felt how the key was shaped, and I found they matched." Seeing my questioning expression, she explained, "This is because my hearing is better than that of most people, partially because of the way my ears are structured." Crystal pointing at her pointed ears for emphasis. "But enough about that. Let's go in."

* * *

The mansion was cold, and ice coated the floor. A thick layer of dust blanketed the furniture. And yet, the room seemed completely pristine otherwise. The carpet was faded, but there were no rips or holes in it. Everything was completely neat and organized. "Weird, it almost seems like guests were expected," I commented.

"But no host is present," Crystal replied. "This seems far too suspicious…we'd better find the quickly Star." She stopped and listened, and then opened her eyes. "This is bad; I can't hear the Star's twinkling anywhere. We'll have to split up and look for it."

"Alright, I'll go up the stairs, then!" I declared, heading up an elegant spiral staircase. The pillar that these stairs spiraled around had ornate designs of flowers and plantlife on it. But in the cold air, and in the dull gray stone they were carved in, they seemed very out of place. I looked at them a bit wistfully, wondering if they, like I myself, felt distant from their home.

Suddenly, there was haunting chatter-like laughter in the air. I looked up in surprise to see a ghost on the stairs. It was like a ball, but had a malicious face with fangs, a tail and fins. "Yihihihi! Seems there're guests in our mansion!"

"Who are you?" I asked. "Are you some kind of fish?"

The ghost laughed so hard it was deafening. "Of course not! You don't see me in water, do you? I'm a _Boo_! A malevolent ghost which has been reborn to take away your soul! _AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!_"

*insert crickets chirping here*

"…I'm not that scary to you, am I?" the Boo finally asked. I shook my head in response "D*bleep*!" the Boo growled. "Oh well. Just try to attack me!" He floated towards me and let out a malicious cry, slashing me with his fangs.

"OW!" I shouted. "Okay, you're gonna pay for that!" I punched at him, but then my punch fazed right through him. "Wait, how did THAT happen?"

"I'm a ghost. You can't touch me!" the Boo laughed. "Take this!" He attempted to sink his fangs into my arm again, but I shot him with a laser. "AUGH!" the Boo screamed, recoiling as the light sheared him in half like a hot knife through butter.

"That got him!" I smiled. "Now to quickly finish him off! Falcon PUNCH!" The white falcon slashed through the Boo so easily, I was amazed. "How did that happen?" I wondered. "Am I just awesome?"

"Against a Boo, yes," groaned the Boo. "Our greatest weakness is light. Surprised a human like you can wield it, and at that, so proficiently… But ghosts don't die. Remember that…and leave if you value your life…ehehehehe…." And then he faded from view, into a wall.

"…that was kinda creepy," I muttered. Raising my voice, I shouted, "HEY, CRYSTAL, YOU FOUND THE STAR YET?" My words reverberated through the spacious mansion, until it seemed like every inch of stone was repeating my words. "Holy crap," I muttered to myself in awe.

When no response came, I just walked up the stairs to the top floor. Immediately, I was greeted by a legion of 10 Boos. "Welcome to our mansion!" they laughed, before they attacked.

I watched all of them come, then launched my attack immediately, splitting into six different Rays, each one a different color. "TASTE THE RAINBOW, FOOLZ! _RAINBOW RAMPAGE_!" all six of me shouted, and all of them…er…us…OH WHATEVER! Anyway, all the clones dashed forward and, shining with our respective colors, crashed into the Boos, letting loose a crazy mix of color, destroying them all.

All the clones fused back into me, and I resumed walking across the carpet. "Let's see what's in here-aw, bummer, it's locked," I grumbled, attempting to open a door. I walked down the hall and opened another room to find a study. But to my surprise, it wasn't a Boo in there. The room seemed empty. "That's weird," I muttered. Suddenly, from out of the wall came two red spheres with yellow eyes and pointed noses. They flew at me, and while I was wondering what they were, one ran into me.

**BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**

A massive explosion rocked the study, and I went flying into the base of a bookcase. "Owww…huh? AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" I screamed as I looked up. A bunch of books fell, conking me on the head several times. "Oww…" I groaned. Realizing the red spheres exploded on contact, I vaporized the other one before it could get anywhere me. But the explosion still caused many books to fall on me. D:

"Ow…I wonder where the Toad Brigade is?" I wondered to myself (talk about redundancy with word choice -_-). "Maybe I should go down and find Crystal…" But before I went, I spied a flame-orange key with a diamond-shaped ring on the back, and flames adorning it on the desk. Deciding it was important, I snatched it on my way out. When I walked outside the room, I found a pale blue freezing mist floating above the stairs. _Wonder what that is?_ I thought to myself, walking towards the mist. Immediately, it floated forward and bumped into me, and I was suddenly encased in an icy prison! "WHOA WTF?" I shouted, breaking out. "THAT DOES IT! I KILL YOU!" I blasted it with an intense light, but that didn't do anything to the mist. "What? My Light attacks won't work on it?" I shouted.

Suddenly, there was the sound of wind, and the ghost was pulled into a vacuum! And as I watched it fly in, I saw that the vacuum was held by…Luigi! "If you guys told me you were fighting ghosts, I would've come sooner with this thing," Luigi grumbled.

"Luigi! What're you doing here? Weren't you getting another Star?" I asked. "And more importantly, why the _hell_ are you holding a VACUUM?"

"I got the Star while you were away," Luigi replied. "But we got a message from the Toad Brigade saying that they were trapped in a haunted mansion with a lot of ghosts. Conveniently, a person arrived at that time who could help us: a friend of mine, Professor E. Gadd. He gave me this vacuum which was left on our planet at the time of Bowser's attack." He held it up proudly. "This is the Poltergust 5000. It's a vacuum which is meant to help in defeating ghosts by vacuuming them up. But enough explaining. Let's go find Crystal." We began to walk down the stairs, when suddenly, many Boos blocked our path! "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Luigi screamed, and hid behind me for some reason. O_o

"…uh…" I sweatdropped. "Aren't _you_ the one who should be protecting _me_ from the Boos?"

"…oh yeah. Leave it to me!" Luigi shouted, and he activated a flashlight, and light shone over the Boos' eyes, causing them to wail in pain, covering their eyes as best as they could. "Now I've gotcha!" Luigi shouted, starting up the vacuum. A cyclone whirled the Ghosts into the vacuum quickly. "Cool, right?" Luigi asked, grinning. "Of course, your light powers will be more effective in eliminating them."

Suddenly, a Boo appeared in front of us…wearing sunglasses. O_o Luigi freaked out when he popped up randomly. "AHAHAHAHAHAHA! So you think you'll defeat me with that vacuum, eh? But I won't let myself get sucked in that easily!"

"Crap. Because he's wearing sunglasses, I can't stun him," Luigi said. "And because he's not stunned, he can resist the vacuum. Of course…" Luigi smirked and activated the vacuum.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That won't work!" the Boo laughed, flying away from the vacuum. "I can't believe you're so stupid as to use the vacuum when I'm not stu-" Suddenly, the sunglasses were sucked up by the vacuum. "Oh, crud," the Boo groaned.

Immediately, Luigi switched on the flashlight. The Boo screamed and covered his eyes, and Luigi sucked him up without wasting a second. "Too easy," Luigi grinned. "Alright, Ray, let's keep moving. By the way, Mario's exploring the mansion as well," Luigi replied. "He shouldn't have much trouble with it."

"Are you sure about that?" I asked. "Because there are a lot of ghosts, and _he_ doesn't have a Poltergu-" I was interrupted by another Boo coming up with a ghostly white mustache and a red hat. "AAAAAAAAAA ANOTHER BOO! DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!" I shouted, blasting it with a beam of light. The Boo shouted, and he went flying back, dispersing into…Mario? "MARIO? WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU DOING?" I shouted. It TOTALLY blew my mind as to why Mario was a Boo just now.

"Urf…" Mario groaned as he got up. "Luigi, maybe we should've told Ray about Boo Mushrooms?"

"Yeah," Luigi agreed. "Ray, one of Mario's Power-ups in the Boo Mushroom. It turns him into a Boo so he can float and pass through walls."

"Ohhh," I said. "That makes sense…but that's a weird mushroom."

"I know, right?" Mario agreed. "But anyway, we should split up to find the Toad Brigade. Have you already looked upstairs?"

"Well, not completely; Ray was coming from the study, and I only went into a couple bedrooms," Luigi replied. "So Mario, you're free to search up there." Mario grunted in agreement and trudged up the stairs. At this moment, we reached the ground floor and Luigi found the basement door unlocked. "I'll go down here," Luigi declared. "Ray, keep searching for the Toad Brigade."

"Right," I replied, and walked through a hallway. But then something pulled the rug out from underneath me. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" I shouted, slamming into the ground. An orange ghost giggled, floating out from underneath the carpet. "I KILL YOU!" I shouted, headshotting it instantly. "Geez, how many freakin' ghosts can you get in _one_ mansion? -_-"

Suddenly, I heard muffled explosions and sounds of general fighting in the wall next to me. Confused, I literally busted the wall down with a Falcon Punch…and was treated to seeing Crystal battling numerous red flames, attempting to ram into her with their flaming energy in a library. Crystal's ice power had completely iced over the books, tables, chairs, and shelves, while the flames burned hotter to avoid being frozen. Crystal was obviously losing. "Crystal! I've come to help!" I shouted. I blasted several lasers towards the flames, which phased right through them, but it got their attention.

Crystal saw her chance and froze them over when they weren't looking. "You really shouldn't have come to help," she said icily. "Weren't you searching upstairs? So why did you come?"

"Mario and Luigi have arrived to help," I replied. "So I let Mario take over for a bit, and started looking for you. Have you had any luck?"

Crystal shook her head. "There was nothing in the library or foyer," she sighed. "But if your allies came here, shouldn't you be with them?"

"Those two can handle things pretty well themselves," I replied firmly. "Crystal, why are you like this? You scoff at friendship all the time. There's gotta be a reason for that. So what is it?"

Crystal sighed and sat down on a frozen chair. "If you must know, listen well. Before I discovered my powers as a Shining Star, I was a lot like _you_-all about friends and bonds and whatnot. I had a best friend in the _Hy__ōkekkai_, but…" For once, a trace of pain entered her face. "I killed him."

"You WHAT?" I repeated, unable to believe it. "How is that possible?"

"We were playing around on the outskirts of the town, when invaders attacked-tainted creatures of light," Crystal continued, and I almost expected her to glare at me because _I_ used light, but she didn't. "We were forced to flee, but the tainted creatures caught up. So we were forced to use our natural powers of ice, but it wasn't enough. It was then that I unlocked my Shining Star powers…and in trying to destroy the tainted creatures, I injured him in the process, and one day later, while I was on a trip to another galaxy for business my parents had for the _Hy__ōkekkai_, he died of his injuries." Crystal sighed and rested her face in her hands. "I can't believe I was blind enough to kill a friend as well as my enemy… and I decided it would be best to abandon bonds, because of what I'd done that day."

So this was the reason she tried to isolate herself from us. I sat down on a chair next to her. "You can't just abandon bonds like that," I argued.

Crystal shook her head vigorously. "I think my friend would be cursing me in Hell right now. That was a downright betrayal. How do you think I can be forgiven for that?" She fingered her pendant. "This is the only reminder I have that he ever lived. He was making it for me…and on the day of his death, he sent it to me. A reminder of how I took a friend's life for my own survival." She stood up, rubbed her face seemingly to clear away tears, and almost immediately was back to being cold again. "That's enough time for talk. We'd better go."

I silently turned the information over in my head as I searched the library for anything. I remembered countless times when I had hurt _my_ friends for silly reasons, but all the time, they had forgiven me. Why couldn't she forgive herself? But my thoughts were interrupted as I found a key lying in the ice. If I could break the ice, I could get to it! I hammered at the ice until it was loose enough, then pried up all of it around the key. Examining the key, I noted it shone yellow and pink, and the end of it (the end you're not supposed to put in the lock) had a section which rippled back like dust on a wind. "Crystal! I found a key!" I shouted. "What now?"

"A key?" Crystal called back. "Coincidentally, I seem to have find a locked door. It sounds like the Toad Brigade is in it. Bring it over!"

I walked over to the locked door, and was immediately treated to hearing screams inside. "Don't worry! We'll get you out!" I shouted. I gave the key to Crystal, and she ran her fingers over it, listening to the echoing screams through the keyhole. Then she opened her eyes. "It's not the right one," she sighed, giving it back to me. "And the key we used to get in the mansion won't unlock this door, either. We'll have to keep searching."

"Screw locked doors!" I shouted. "FALCON PUNCH!" I punched the door as hard as I could…but it didn't break. "Sheesh, what is this door made of?" I wondered. "Crystal, do you have any ideas?"

Crystal closed her eyes, then opened them. "The sound of the Toads screaming penetrates from here mostly. That must mean it's weakest here," she told me, pointing at a certain spot on the door. "Shall we do it together?" I nodded. "Alright then. Falcon Punch!" she shouted (at the same time I did), and we punched the door with a storm of light and ice, busting the door to pieces.

The Toad Brigade came out, dusting themselves off. "Phew!" sighed the Pink Toad (who was strangely a guy :o). "I thought we'd be in there forever! But the Captain ran off somewhere…"

"Urgh," I groaned, facepalming myself. "What a moron! Crystal, let's go find Mario and Luigi. Toads, you guys go and try to find the Star yourselves."

"We'll try!" the Green Toad declared. They marched off to another room, but it was locked. "I guess we have to bust it down," sighed the Green Toad, and he raised his pickaxe before swinging it and destroying the door. "Let's go!" Minutes later, Green Toad came out. "We found this!" he declared, holding up a black key. It had a square ring (I don't know what to call it) with an "X" in the center.

It was at that point that Luigi came up from the basement. "No luck," he sighed. "Just a bunch of Boos. I guess there's only one Star in this mansion." He noticed the four keys we had and frowned. "What's with all the keys? Are we supposed to find a bunch of keys to create the Star?"

"No, wait…" Crystal frowned, holding out the key she had used to unlock the mansion door. It was a metallic blue, with a hexagon-shaped ring that had spikes at each angle. "This is the symbol of the _Hy__ōkekkai_. And the others are…Mist Valley, Flamvell, and X-Saber," she continued, pointing at first the pink and orange key, then the flame-orange key, and finally the black one. "Whoever this mansion belongs to has been to four great civilizations! Let's find Mario right now." Crystal grabbed all four keys. "I have a feeling he'll run into something not too pleasant up there!"

Upstairs, we were rather frightened to find Mario lying on the ground, with several rips in his clothes. "Ow…" Mario groaned. "Fighting Boos hurts…" A bit breathlessly, we were told by Mario how he had serached all of the upstairs, sans a certain door which had four different locks, and was met in each one by lots of ghosts. "I wonder why they all rally here in this mansion?" he asked.

"Where's the room with the locks?" Crystal asked. Mario pointed down the hall to a door with four slots in it, each one corresponding to the color of a key. Crystal went up and inserted all the corresponding keys into their respective slots. With four clicks, the door slid open to reveal a stairwell. "Alright, here we go," I declared, walking in.

As we ran up the stairs, we encountered various ghosts. Luigi quickly vacuumed them up, making for a short journey. "We're almost there!" Luigi shouted. And we burst into an elegant ballroom…which was completely iced over. "This is…?" Luigi muttered to himself, gazing suspiciously around the room.

Suddenly, an eerie laughing echoed through the room. "Ask the darkness. The darkness knows it all." And then, from out of the shadows, icy mist began to gather. Before we could move, it froze over the exit! From the corners of the room, five black-blue balls of light flew towards the center of the room, spinning in a circle. _"When the shadows overlap with more shadows, the gates of Oblivion will pull back! To a World without Light!"_ And the mist enveloped the balls of light as they launched dark blue lightning bolts into the center of the circle. Then a beam of dark blue light emitted from the lightning and grew to envelop all of the mist.

"What the heck is this?" Luigi wondered. "The darkness knows it all? And what's with the mist and lightning? Moreover, how will we escape?"

"You _won't_ escape," the voice replied. And then the mist was visible again, freezing over the dark light into a strange form. It iced into two wings which spiked out in various directions, and two appendages of ice, and a torso that lacked legs, instead having a blade-like portrusion that went downward. Then the darkness flowed over the torso, and when it receded, there was a silver-dark gray armor plate covering, and a head that was dark gray with a silver face. On his back was a red mark (a triangle connected to a crescent, with two triangles at either base angle of the triangle connected to the crescent, and a circle inside the crescent). His crimson red eyes glared at us. "You'll dance the dance of death in the darkness in my palm! I am Frozen Fitzgerald!"

"What kind of a name is Fitzgerald?" I asked. "But more importantly, who are you?"

Fitzgerald let out his icy, raspy laugh again. "I am the owner of this mansion. I was _never_ satisfied with my life, though; it was far too cold for me. And as a ghost, I was reborn into this form!"

"Then why stay here?" Crystal asked. "If you're not satisfied, then why don't you leave?"

"Because all other worlds weren't a suitable place for me," Fitzgerald replied. "So I'll defend my riches no matter what. The various ghosts that populate this mansion are people who have been guests here before, and they're quite enthusiastic to defend it, too. And you won't take my riches no matter what!"

* * *

**Boss: Frozen Fitzgerald**

The frozen fiend raised his appendages and fired many shards of ice from them. "Look out!" Luigi shouted, and we bolted away as the shards crashed into the ground, causing large freezing explosions which left quite a bit of ice. "Crap!" Luigi shouted. "Alright, take this!" He held up the Poltergust 5000 and blasted a jet of red flame.

Fitzgerald let out a cry as the flames began to melt away at his frozen body. But then as soon as the stream ended, the water surged back up, allowing his body to immediately refreeze back into its original form. "It'll take more than a little candle to destroy me!" he laughed, before whipping Luigi into the wall with his appendage.

"Try this, then!" I shouted, firing a laser from my hand. Fitzgerald just dodged it, but another laser smashed a part his wing to pieces. However, the ice crystals flew back up and froze back into place. "Crap! Flame and lasers do _nothing_ to him!" I shouted. "Crystal, can you do anything?"

"I'll try," Crystal replied. She raised her hand, and ice froze over it into an icy blade. Immediately, she attacked Frozen Fitzgerald, slashing at him. Fitzgerald attempted to slash her with his appendage, but she leaped over it. Fitzgerald grunted and took to the sky, dodging Crystal's slash. Crystal whipped around and launched the icicle blade at him, but Fitzgerald just flew out of the way, allowing it to lodge itself in the ceiling. Then Fitzgerald spread his wings, and shards of ice flew from them, blasting into the ground. We were able to dodge most of them, but to my horror, one lodged into a table...10 cm!

"See how futile your battle is? You can't _hope_ to defeat the darkness like this," Fitzgerald cackled. Then he swooped down, and before I knew it, I was impaled by his shoulder spikes and driven into the wall. Fitzgerald laughed and pulled them out, allowing me to crash into the floor. Suddenly, Luigi leaped up from behind him, a Green Shell in hand, and kicked it as hard as he could. "ARGH!" Fitzgerald shouted as it smashed into his back, cracking the ice.

Crystal caught wind of what was going on and also kicked the shell, but figured it wasn't a good idea to enhance it with her ice power against a foe that also used ice. Fitzgerald howled as his body cracked even more, and Luigi kicked the shell again, now BREAKING Fitzgerald's body and sending the blade-like portion at the bottom fly and impale itself in the floor. As Crystal and Luigi used the Green Shell to shatter the remnants of Fitzgerald's body, I used lasers to destroy the fragments, turning Frozen Fitzgerald into diamond dust. "Excellent work!" Luigi grinned, fist pumping with me.

"Wait…" Crystal frowned. "There's no way it would be _that_ easy…"

Suddenly, there was the cackling again, and the diamond dust flew into the shape of Frozen Fitzgerald, freezing over. The armor plate descended onto his body, completing the frozen fiend. "Don't think you can defeat the darkness that easily!" he laughed, and before we could consider attacking him, mist surged in front of him, freezing into a shield. Luigi attacked him with the Green Shell, but the shell froze and shattered against it. "Pathetic fools like you could never defeat me!" Fitzgerald laughed, before flying up and plummeting like a falling star, and though we were able to jump out of the way, Crystal's back was slashed by the blade, and an icy shockwave rippled out, freezing a good portion of the floor.

"Impossible! What kind of monster is he?" Luigi whispered, horrified. "Whatever. We can't be intimidated by him!" He raised the Poltergust 5000 and fired another jet of fire, melting the shield away. But at that time, Fitzgerald was gone. "What? Where'd he go?" Luigi wondered, glancing around.

"Behind you, fool," he heard, and Luigi was whipped away by Fitzgerald's appendage, slamming him into the floor. Then Fitzgerald whirled towards us, launching ice shards at us. I ran for it as they froze the ground behind me, but several struck Crystal and sent her flying.

Crystal screamed as she slammed into the ground. Then she groaned, and struggled to her knees. "The energy in that impact…" she gasped. "That can't be…normal ice."

"Of course it's not! This is ice from our World of Darkness!" Fitzgerald laughed. Before I could ask what he meant, he whirled around and sent a storm of ice shards at me, and they immediately exploded and sent me flying as they froze over. I shouted as I felt the blow; that was _dark_ energy. Trying to ignore the pain, I whirled around, breaking the ice, and shot a laser at Fitzgerald, piercing his wing. Fitzgerald laughed and began to regenerate it, at the same time sending icicles towards me. Knowing I wouldn't stand a chance against them, I ran as best as I could, firing more lasers and causing a noticeable gap. From behind, Crystal generated an icicle sword and slashed part of Fitzgerald, and then brought down her own icicles to shatter the ice into tiny fragments.

"That won't work! I'll just regenerate it!" Fitzgerald laughed, holding out his appendage. The ice stopped and began to fly back towards his wing.

"Are you sure about that?" Luigi smirked as he activated the Poltergust, sucking the ice in. Fitzgerald stared in horror as the ice was pulled away from him and into the vacuum. "A pocket dimension exists in this vacuum!" Luigi smiled. "You won't be getting the ice back!"

"Then I'll just take the vacuum from you!" Fitzgerald shouted, and he lashed out at Luigi. However, I ran up and pushed him away, allowing myself to get whipped by the attack. But that attack felt different. It was more violent, and it seemed as though Fitzgerald was getting more intent to destroy us.

"What in…?" I gasped, but Fitzgerald whipped me again, knocking me into a window and causing a spiderweb of cracks to cover the window. His attacks were definitely getting stronger. Fitzgerald attacked again, shattering the window and sending me plummeting towards the ground. I quickly grabbed onto a ledge and pulled myself up again, but as soon as my feet touched the ground I went sliding on ice towards jagged frozen spikes. "HOLY CRAP!" I shouted, blasting a laser at the ice, destroying it. "That could've ended badly…"

"It's about to get worse, punk!" Fitzgerald shouted, and he unleashed a flurry of ice shards. They sent me flying out the window again half frozen, but this time, Luigi used a Propeller Mushroom to fly over and grab me, then glide back into the ball room. "Curse your shrewd tricks!" Fitzgerald growled. "I'll take that vacuum, then kill all of you!" He lashed out and attempted to pry the vacuum from Luigi's back, but Luigi flew out of his reach and unleashed a blast of fire which melted some ice on that very appendage, allowing Luigi to vacuum it up. "YOU LITTLE-!" Fitzgerald screamed, and before Luigi could do anything, he was grabbed by the appendage and slammed into the ground, then frozen in place.

"Luigi!" I shouted. "Crap, we can't do anything if he's frozen; we need his vacuum!"

"Now you're locked down," Fitzgerald laughed. "And I can defeat you with no trouble at all!" He lashed out with his appendages, slamming us into the ground, then impaled us with several ice shards. I got up and tried to break Luigi out of the ice, but Fitzgerald slammed me into the ground before I could do so. He raised his blade-like bottom portion and began to slash me many times in succession, but Crystal cut it off and caused it to plant itself in the ground. Before Fitzgerald could reform, Crystal froze it to the floor. "Oh no!" Fitzgerald shouted as he refroze. He was stuck in the floor!

"Now we've got you!" I shouted. "Let's let him have it!" I jumped up and kicked Fitzgerald in the face, but his head was harder than the rest of his body, so it didn't break, although he _was_ stunned by the blow. I grabbed his wing and ripped off a fragment of it, tossing it to the ground where Crystal diced it to tiny pieces. Then I launched an intense beam of light at Luigi, thawing him out. "Vacuum it up!" I shouted, and Luigi quickly sucked it into the Poltergust. Then Luigi launched a blast of fire, melting Fitzgerald's left appendage and vacuuming up the water.

"STOP!" Fitzgerald shouted, grabbing me and hurling me away. Crystal jumped behind him and slashed off another part of his wing, but Fitzgerald grabbed her with his other appendage and hurled her after me, then launched numerous ice shards, freezing us in place. Then he deliberately broke himself to fly after us, whipping us with his appendages.

Luigi attempted to fire a stream of fire, but nothing came out. "Crap! Out of charge!" he moaned, and Fitzgerald whipped him into the wall, and charged into him, ramming Luigi again and again and again. "ARGH!" Luigi shouted, and fainted.

"Crap! Luigi!" I shouted, and Crystal and I broke through the ice. Now it was pretty much do-or-die. Crystal created an icicle blade and attacked, but Fitzgerald dodged and froze the ground beneath Crystal as well as her legs, and she slipped and fell out the window, barely catching herself. Then he whirled around and caught me in mid attack before ramming me into the wall. "FRICK!" I shouted, and attempted to get up, but couldn't. I looked down and realized my hand was frozen to the wall!

Fitzgerald flapped his wings and launched a storm of icicles, and one sank into my chest. I shouted in pain, and the others sheared me, though no others were able to impale me. Fitzgerald laughed insanely. "My powers are absolute! But I've had enough now! I'll have to go back to our World of Darkness to recover…and I might as well take you with me!" Fitzgerald raised his arms, creating a dark blue sphere of energy in front of him. Dark blue waves of energy swirled into it, and we watched in horror as the tables and chairs flew into the sphere, disappearing. "I welcome you to our World of Darkness!"

"This is bad," Crystal worried, holding onto the window frame to keep from being carried in. "If this keeps up, we'll get sucked up and be cast into the world of darkness! What should we do?"

I was silent. At first it seemed impossible to win, but then the rift was gone, and instead was replaced by my friends-Ruka, Leon, Holly, and Aidan-were all there, smiling. Then that was replaced by reality. But what I just saw in my mind's eye was clearly there. "As long as I still hold bonds with my friends…" I growled, struggling to my feet, "I'll be alright."

"Enough of the 'bonds' nonsense!" Crystal shouted furiously. "Our defeat is practically set in stone! Think of something else to do!"

"Don't…call them nonsense…" I replied, reaching up towards the icicle buried in my chest, and yanking it out. I winced from the sting of pain, but tried to ignore it as best as I could. "A bond with a friend…" I gazed intensely at her pendant. "Aren't you…Crystal…holding onto one yourself?"

"Do you mean this pendant?" Crystal asked, fingering it. "But it was given to me as a sign that he would never forgive me…"

"It's not!" I shouted, over the whistling of the winds that flew into the rift. "Your friend could've lived for a couple days longer, probably-someone born here would obviously be suited for most cold. But he instead used his remaining energy to make this pendant for you. Back then, in the last few days of his life, he probably had forgiven you already. No…"

I turned the pendant over in my hand to find silver lettering covering the back. It was imprinted in very poor quality, probably by someone who had no energy for such a task. "That thought probably never even crossed his mind. The only thing that did was the desire to protect his bond with you. Because he didn't want to sever those bonds through his death…because he wanted to preserve them…the lettering on the back of the pendant makes that clear. How have you been blind to it?"

Crystal looked up at me helplessly. "In truth, Ray…I _am_ blind. I was born without sight, and now I'm blind to emotions. I can't see what it says."

"Then I'll read it," I replied. "A bunch of books fell on me in the study, and I saw one of them contained a translation guide for the language of the _Hy__ōkekkai_. It says: _To my best friend in the whole universe. May you soar on to a wonderful tomorrow…Goodbye._"

Crystal's eyes began to tear up, and she put her face in her hands. "But…why would he waste his life for me…his killer? I can't be worth it…"

"You were his best friend," I replied. "He wanted to keep that bond through death. As long as you hold onto that bond, you'll be friends. Just like me and my friends…" My mind flashed back to them again. "That's why I'll fight with all my strength…at the end of the emotions woven by my bonds!" I stood up to face Fitzgerald. "Even if I'm ripped apart, I won't let this guy bring his wrath across the universe!"

"Bring it on, punk!" Fitzgerald laughed. "And prepare to be sent to our World of Darkness!" The dark sphere flared violently as he said this.

I stood silently. Then I began to run, faster and faster, before suddenly splitting into six clones of myself and attacking Fitzgerald from several different angles with light the colors of the rainbow. "Take this!" I…er…we shouted. "We'll show you what we think about your invitation to the World of Darkness!"

Fitzgerald howled as we slashed six different marks on his body, then diced them into even smaller pieces. But it wasn't for long. "It's futile!" he laughed. "I'll just regenerate again and again and again!" And the pieces began to fly back towards him…But then, there was a gust of wind, and the shards of ice were scattered, the colors of the rainbow reflecting off them to make a crazy display of crystal and color. Then that faded…and a good portion of the shards were frozen to the floor, walls and ceiling. "What? Impossible!" Fitzgerald shouted. "Who's doing that?"

Crystal stood in front of the shattered window, a long shadow casting from her feet, her wavy cerulean hair obscuring her eyes. Then she looked up at Fitzgerald, and there was a new look of determination in her eyes. "We can't be going to the World of Darkness. I hope you understand, Frozen Fitzgerald." Before Fitzgerald could do anything, she jumped forward and introduced her icicle blade to his face.

"Crystal?" I asked, surprised, flying at Fitzgerald and slashing him with red and purple light. "So you're going to fight now?"

Crystal nodded. "But this time, we need to attack in conjunction! Our attacks will be most effective then! Got it, Ray?" I nodded. "Good. Let's go!" She raised her blade, and I willed my orange and green clones to enhance the blade with orange and green light, allowing her to slash Fitzgerald's arm and cut off a good portion of it.

"It's useless, useless, useless! Don't you get it by now?" Fitzgerald laughed, refreezing it…to a part that was already cut off. "Wait, what?" My blue clone had cut off the very piece he was trying to freeze it to, and now that was frozen to the floor as well. The piece he had originally been trying to refreeze now had to freeze in the wrong place. "Impossible!" gasped Fitzgerald. "How are you defeating _me_, one who uses ice, by freezing my body parts to the floor?"

"You're not real ice; you're ice from the World of Darkness," Crystal replied. "We shouldn't have any trouble at all with you!" She attacked again, slashing the remnant of his left wing to pieces, where my purple, red, blue, and yellow clones diced the pieces into dust. Then that dust was sucked into the rift to the World of Darkness! "Now you're split in 3 different dimensions!" Crystal declared. "What're you going to do now, Fitzgerald?"

"What am I going to do?" Fitzgerald replied, smirking. "I'll sever your bond, that's what!" And he whipped my purple clone into the rift!

"Oh crap!" I shouted, and quickly all six clones fused back into myself. Losing a part of myself into the World of Darkness would NOT be cool. But then I realized that we couldn't do maximum damage anymore if I wasn't charging Crystal's blade. Fitzgerald had caught us in his trap.

Fitzgerald laughed and began to launch ice shards at us once again. Crystal created a barrier of ice, forming a large wall of ice from both dimensions in front of her. Fitzgerald growled and attempted to shatter the barrier, but Crystal jumped out of the way. Then I jumped up from the side, having hid behind a table, and shattered his right appendage with a kick, sending the fragments flying. Crystal immediately froze them, but Fitzgerald roared and whipped up a freezing wind, slamming us into opposite sides of the room and freezing large clumps of ice around the room. "Any last words, fools?" Fitzgerald sneered, advancing upon Crystal. For the first time ever, I saw fear in her eyes.

I panicked. What could we do? But then I saw Luigi lying unconscious on the ground next to me. Quickly searching through Luigi's pockets, I found a 1-UP and shoved it into his mouth. Luigi woke up immediately. "What? What's going-"

"Crystal's about to die!" I whispered. "What should we do? And don't bother with sign language to avoid Fitzgerald's attention. She's blind, actually."

Luigi was silent, looking around the room. Then he looked down at his flashlight. "We have _one_ chance," he replied grimly. Raising his voice, he shouted, "Crystal, freeze the room!"

Crystal wondered what he meant, then jumped away as Fitzgerald rammed the wall and froze him in place, giving her enough time to freeze the rest of the room. "What're you planning to do?" Crystal asked, freezing the chandelier into an icy flower that connected to the floor in several places. Luigi ordered her to get underneath a table. "Seems you've got a plan. Got it!" Crystal ducked underneath it.

"Augh!" Fitzgerald shouted, ripping himself out. "Don't think you can hide! I see you!" he shouted, blasting ice shards at the floor, moving his line of fire towards Crystal slowly, creating several spikes of ice on the floor.

"NOW!" Luigi shouted, slamming a button on his flashlight. The light flashed on and off so fast it barely made sense. "The strobe function's on!" Luigi shouted. "Ray, use your power!"

I nodded and enhanced each flash of light. It ricocheted around the room, off all the ice and glassy windows, striking Fitzgerald from all different angles. "NO!" Fitzgerald shouted as his body was ripped to pieces. Luigi, shielding his eyes, raised the Poltergust and turned it on, sucking up much of the ice. Crystal, unaffected by the light, froze more of the scattering ice to the floor. And the remainder was pulled into the rift to the World of Darkness. When we could finally see again, all that was left was Fitzgerald's armor plate and head. "Impossible…"gasped Fitzgerald. "How could I lose to you…?"

Crystal slowly came out from underneath the table and walked towards him. "You don't value anyone's life, just your wealth. But we fought for each others' lives, and that's the difference we made. Now…" She raised her hand, forming streaks of green and pink icy light above her. "Disappear back into your World of Darkness! _Aurora Borealis Blizzard!_" The aurora hanging above her flashed, and ice flew at Fitzgerald, flashing with the light from the aurora.

"ARGH!" Fitzgerald shouted as the ice pierced through his body, freezing brilliant ice flowers, and then shattering it into nothing but darkness. The darkness began to disperse, and with a flash of golden light, there was the Star! But the darkness flew into the rift, and Fitzgerald's voice echoed one more time through the ballroom: "You may think you've seen the last of me. But there will always be darkness no matter where you are…" A fit of laughter, and then the rift spiraled into nothing.

"Hope we never see him again," I muttered. "Crystal, how do you feel?"

Crystal turned towards me, and there was a gentler look on her face. "I envy you, Ray…you were never blind to the bonds friends share, and I was blind to all of it…even when the evidence of our bond was hanging around my neck. Do you think my friend gave me the strength to defeat Fitzgerald?"

"He probably did," I replied. Crystal was silent, and then finally, for the first time I ever saw it happen, she smiled.

There was suddenly the sound of metal crushing ice, and then with a shout, the Toad Brigade (minus the captain) burst into the room. "Luigi! Ray! Crystal! We've come to he…" The Pink Toad's voice trailed off when he saw the powerful light of the Star. "It's already over, isn't it?" he asked.

"Yep, you missed all of it," Luigi replied, helping Mario up the stairs. "Don't worry, maybe you'll get to show off what skill you have later…if any."

"HEY!" the Pink Toad shouted. We all burst out laughing…including Crystal.

**WE GOT A STAR!**

* * *

We found Toad (the Captain) hiding in the Starshroom. "AHHH! WAIT! I WAS…UH…GUARDING THE STARSHROOM FROM GHOSTS!" Too late. Mario and I had A LOT of fun beating him up.

"Let's go back to Starship Mario!" Luigi declared as he activated the Starshroom's engines.

Crystal sat quietly in the corner, but she was much less tense than before. I sat down next to her, seeing as there were no other seats. Then she turned and tapped me on the shoulder. "Ray?" I looked at her. She was smiling. "Thank you for helping me see. I look forward to the next time we work together."

I was a bit freaked out by how much her personality changed, but I smiled. "Same here," I replied, happy I had yet another bond with a friend...

* * *

_Far away from the Spooky Snowy Galaxy, a white and blue dragon was soaring under the aurora, shining white dust drifting from his wings. Over and over played the battle between the Shining Stars and Frozen Fitzgerald in his mind. _It seems they're becoming better and better at fighting together, _he thought with a smile, or as close as a dragon can get to one. _Good. They'll need it for the battles ahead.


	25. Cosmic Clone Craziness

**Traveler's Log 022: Cosmic Clone Craziness**

**Stars: 26**

**Mario**

* * *

As the Starshroom flew slowly towards Starship Mario, we sat trying to recover from our battles in the Spooky Snowy Galaxy. In the meantime, we just chatted about various subjects while sitting inside the Starshroom, such as our home galaxies.

"I see…" Crystal said, strangely not seeming to be as cold and distant as she previously had been. I noticed she had been like that after they left me behind to get the Star; something during the Boss Battle probably made her like that. "So that's what the place where you come from is like. Sounds like a very interesting place."

"Even more epic for you," Ray replied. "I mean, come on. An entire city millions of kilometers wide underneath a glacier? That's pretty awesome, you gotta admit."

Crystal smiled at the compliment. "But it's a miracle we have the geysers. Otherwise, we'd probably freeze to death under all that ice. Anyway, Mario and Luigi, you two have gone through some interesting adventures. And the person you're trying to fight now is, in fact, your archnemesis. Sounds like you've been hardened specifically for the task you have at hand."

"But that doesn't mean we've gotten any better at withstanding pain. Man, that mission was tough," I groaned, grabbing a Super Mushroom and eating it to recover all my injuries which I obtained from fighting about 9001 ghosts. "At least we don't have to go to that Galaxy again…"

"Actually, I think you _will_ be going to that Galaxy again," the Green Toad replied. "We found a Comet Medal during our search…"

"YOU FOUND WHAT?" I screamed, immediately realizing what this would mean. "F*bleep*!"

Luigi shrugged helplessly, then grabbed a Super Mushroom of his own. "We can't do much about it. Let's rest as much as we can while we wait for it to appear."

* * *

"_Okaeri nasai!_ (Welcome back!)" Terra greeted us as we used the Warp Pad to leave the Starshroom. "How did it go?"

"Quite well," Crystal replied with a gentle smile, which made Terra stare at her for a long moment with a look of disbelief n her face. (Try to take a guess why.)

At this moment, Professor E. Gadd walked up to Luigi. Gadd was a short, balding man, with only a tiny amount of hair on his head, and glasses with swirls on their lenses. (Makes you really wonder how he sees!) "Ah, Luigi, you're back! I trust the Poltergust 5000 has helped you a lot?"

"Yeah, we got a lot of ghosts," Luigi replied with a smile. The two were old friends. "Unfortunately, none would really fit with your portrait collection."

"Oh, it's just fine!" the Professor replied. "Portraits aren't what I came for out here! We can't let Bowser destroy the universe again, can we?"

"We can't," Luigi agreed. "And with Poltergust 5000, now we have a better chance of doing it!"

"Hey, what about F.L.U.D.D.?" I complained. "Are you saying he doesn't compare to that silly vacuum?"

"The Poltergust isn't just a silly vacuum!" exclaimed Gadd. "But wait…F.L.U.D.D.? Is that really you?"

"_Yes, it's me, Professer Gadd,"_ F.L.U.D.D. replied. "Have you been keeping well?"

"Of course! I've invented even more amazing machines since you last saw me. But anyway, nice to see my inventions are being put to good use!" the Professor replied cheerfully. I stared in surprise, having only JUST realized _he_ was F.L.U.D.D.'s inventor.

At this moment, Aeron suddenly soared through the air, landing next to us. "Back," he declared, holding up a Star in his right hand. "Have another Star for you."

"When were you even _gone_?" Ray demanded. "I swear, if you had been with us when we went to the Spooky Snowy Galaxy, we would've had so much easier of a time it would barely make sense!"

"Why?" Axel asked, grabbing on the ear of Starship Mario above the Warp Pad and sitting on it. "What did you encounter there that you'd need us for?"

"We met a strange being called Frozen Fitzgerald," Crystal replied. "He was talking about the World of Darkness throughout the fight. Do either of you know what that is?"

"I think I know what that is," Aeron replied, "but it's really the least of your concern now. The world he speaks of is a terrifying place which is home to terrifying beasts. Long story short, Bowser _really_ wouldn't want to utilize anything from there, unless he's emo."

"O…k…" I replied. "Anyway, Ray, Crystal, are you guys alright? You look _fried_ from fighting that Frozen Fitzgerald guy! I really don't think you'll be able to recover before the comet comes!"

"We'll help them get better," a Luma promised. "But I agree with you that they won't be ready to help us get Stars for a while."

"My leg is healed; I could help you," Terra offered. "Ano…but what if the Comet doesn't appear for days? No one ever said how long it would take to appear, right?"

"Well, that's true," Luigi replied. "The amount of time it takes for a Comet to appear is uncertain. So let's hope it doesn't-"

"Wait," Crystal suddenly held up her hand. "Don't you hear a high-pitched whining?" We listened hard, and found in fact we could hear it, although I didn't hear it until a full minute after she had mentioned it.

Then Ray noticed something. "Hey, is it just me, or is a purple light shining on us? And I'm pretty sure the aurora's _pink_." Sure enough, there was a purple shine of light on us.

Then with a roar, a bright purple Prankster Comet flew past Starship Mario, stardust trailing it, and blazed into the Spooky Snowy Galaxy, where it began to circle over and over. "Well, that was highly improbable," Luigi commented with surprise.

"ARGH WHY DID IT HAVE TO APPEAR SO SOON?" I screamed, throwing my hands into the air in frustration. "Well, let's go."

"You know you could just wait a few days," yawned the Yellow Toad, who liked to sleep a lot. "No one ever said you _had_ to get every Star the moment you saw it."

"Well that depends. Would you like it if Bowser got it first?" I replied, glaring at him. The Toad immediately shut up, knowing how bad that would be. "C'mon, let's get to the Starshroom," I muttered, stalking towards the Warp Pad.

* * *

As the Starshroom gently landed in the snowy grounds, I saw several floating purple coins with star-shaped designs on them. "Don't tell me it's _that_ Comet," I groaned, face-palming myself.

"Sorry Mario, but it really does seem to be the Purple Comet," replied the Blue Toad. "But you have us, so it shouldn't be that hard!"

"Right, whatever," Aeron replied, dropping off the Starshroom and landing in the snow. As he stood up, he took note of the shattered window on the 3rd and topmost floor. "So this is Crystal, Ray and Luigi's handiwork. What a fine job they did." I took careful note of the sarcasm he used there.

"Wow, I wonder why they bothered doing it," I muttered to myself. "Anyway, Toad Brigade! Start looking for Purple Coins!"

"On it," replied the Green Toad, and the Toad Brigade rushed off to the gardens to grab 10 Purple Coins. However, then Venus Ice Traps burst from the ground and unleashed icy energy, forcing the Toad Brigade to fall back. "Ack!" shouted the Green Toad, jumping away from a blast of ice. "Didn't see that coming…Okay, I'll defeat them with the Super Le-"

"No! We can't risk using _those_ so soon!" interrupted the Blue Toad. "Use your pickaxe instead!"

"Are you crazy? I wouldn't want to break my pickaxe just for that!" argued the Green Toad. "I'll use the Metal Block instead!" He held up a green cube with several white squares around the edges, and jumped to break it open, causing bright green energy to course over his body. Then the Green Toad's body turned to metal! He ran at the Venus Ice Traps, and they tried to freeze him, but he was only smashed a few inches back and kept running. The Green Toad let out a battle cry and smashed his foot into the Venus Fire Traps, killing them. "Nothing to it!" the Green Toad bragged, grabbing the Purple Coins. (Purple Coins: 6/100)

"Interesting energy in that block," Aeron commented, walking along the garden path so casually it barely made sense. But then, this WAS Aeron, after all. He walked up to a shed and opened the door. "Hey, guys! I found some Purple Coins!" He walked out with 5 Purple Coins. (Purple Coins: 11/100)

"Great!" Luigi declared, walking the other way through the forest. But then he walked out with a frown. "There don't appear to be any Purple Coins in there…"

"Luigi, you have a flashlight. Let's use that to look around with it," I suggested. I grabbed Luigi's flashlight and looked around a bit with it. Immediately, I noticed several odd patterns in the ground. "Terra, unearth that place," I ordered. Terra looked puzzled, but raised her hands and caused the earth to rise up, bringing 2 Purple Coins out of the snow. (Purple Coins: 13/100)

"Okay, time to do something to make Eddie jealous. Aeron, do you have the camera?" Axel asked. Aeron muttered something under his breath and pulled it out. "Okay, here I go!" Axel shouted, jumping to a windowsill and pushing off the wall, then grabbing the bit of roof which hung over the entrance and clambered up it. He jumped once more and grabbed onto the edge of the roof, pulling himself onto the roof of the mansion, and slid off a moment later with 6 Purple Coins in hand. (Purple Coins: 19/100) "You got that all on tape, right?" Axel asked.

"Yep," Aeron replied. "But was that really necessary? We can't have you breaking your bones now."

"So? Can't we make a few memories last?" Axel complained. Aeron muttered something else vile and went back to searching for Purple Coins.

"But where else could we search?" the Blue Toad Wondered, adjusting his glasses and gazing around briefly. Then he noticed 3 Purple Coins tangled in the branches of some trees. "There are some Purple Coins up there! Quick, get them!" he shouted, jumping to the tree and skillfully climbing up it, grabbing each of the Purple Coins. (Purple Coins: 22/100)

"Ano…shouldn't we check the Mansion?" Terra suggested. She went up to the massive door and pulled it open, walking inside. "Axel, Mario, Luigi, may you please come with me?"

"Sure," Axel replied, and we started walking after her.

We found ourselves in the foyer at once. Terra looked around at the walls and ceiling with amazement…and terror. "Those designs…are they monsters? They look frightening…"

"They're just stone, ignore them," Axel replied, walking over to a closet and looking inside for Purple Coins but finding none. "I don't think you need your poncho here; there's no snow or wind or anything."

"So I should take it off?" Terra asked, but I didn't let Axel answer due to impatience. :3

"Okay, let's start looking for the Purple Coins!" I declared, running off into a hallway. As I ran, I heard Axel mutter something about me and "Leeroy Jenkins II," but I completely ignored it.

"What rooms have we not entered?" Luigi wondered, looking around. "I wish we had a map of the mansion or something…be right back, guys. I'll have the Toad Brigade do an X-ray scan of the mansion so we have a map." He walked back the way we came, leaving us to try to find the Purple Coins ourselves.

"There's a room here!" Terra suggested, peeking inside. Immediately she shrieked and slammed the door, then curled up into a ball and placed both hands over her nose.

"What? What happened?" I asked as we ran over.

"That was the toilet…" Terra groaned, not even daring to take her hands off her nose. Axel and I looked at each other with completely disgusted looks before continuing to walk down the hallway.

I looked into another room. It looked to be a kitchen, but strangely, food sat on the counter and island, as if it had just been prepared. "This is weird…" I muttered. A bit suspiciously, I opened the microwave to see if there were Purple Coins inside, to no avail. "Well, that was a stupid thought," I muttered, slammiong the microwave shut. "Axel, where else do you think we should look?"

Axel looked suspiciously at a cupboard and opened it, and found 2 Purple Coins inside, amongst some stacks of plates. "Here are some," he declared, pulling out the Coins. (Purple Coins: 24/100)

Terra pulled some more Purple Coins out of a dishwasher. (Purple Coins: 27/100) "Perhaps there are more Purple Coins in the cupboards!" she decided when she saw Axel take them out. She then went up to a cupboard and opened it…ignoring the fact that the Purple Coins were far too wide to fit in it.

"Uh….Terra? You know that the Purple Coins wouldn't fit in there, right?" Axel asked, sweatdropping.

"Wait, they wouldn't?" Terra checked by attempting to push one of the Purple Coins she had in her hand into the cup board. It didn't work. "Oh."

I groaned and facepalmed myself, then looked inside the refrigerator. "I wonder if there are any here?" I asked myself, and looked at each of the shelves. "Nope, it's just plates of food," I muttered, beginning to close the fridge, but then Axel's hand reached out and grabbed two "plates." He dumped the contents of them into the trash can and rinsed them off, revealing that they were actually Purple Coins. (Purple Coins: 29/100) "DAW HOW DID I NOT NOTICE THAT?" I groaned.

"Because you're stupid," Axel replied. He carefully looked at the plates that were laid out, but quickly deduced that there were no Purple Coins among them. "Aw, come on," he grumbled.

"Oh, there's some corn here!" Terra noticed a plate. "Maybe we should take it back for Ray-"

"No," Axel replied. Terra looked at him in surprise. "He'd kill us all," Axel said flatly.

Suddenly, a large Boo appeared and began to laugh. "Don't just go wasting the food! Why not have a bite? Actually, make that a MOUTHFUL-or even better, 10 mouthfuls!" With a whoosh, the Boo began to pick up plates and throw them at us.

Axel stared with absolute disgust at all the food flying at him before wheeling through it and cutting it all with his _katana_. "This is just _really_ dumb," he muttered. "Take this! _Getsu Taiho_!" He raised his hand and pointed at the Boo, launching a flurry of tiny silver blasts, which didn't smash the Boo back much, but the sheer number of blasts overwhelmed the Boo, destroying him.

Terra slowly peeked over the counter. "Is he gone?" she asked, not even daring to get near the Purple Coins that marked what had happened to the Boo.

"Yep, I killed him," Axel replied, grabbing the Purple Coins. (Purple Coins: 32/100) "He won't bother us anymore." We searched the kitchen one last time, but found nothing. "Frick," Axel grumbled. "Oh well, let's search in a different place."

We walked out of the kitchen and headed through the hallways to the next few rooms. "These Purple Coins are annoying to find," Axel grumbled. "Hope Luigi hurries up with the map…" At this moment, we found the door to a library…which was covered with ice, books, and the smashed remnants of several tables and shelves. "HOLY CRAP WHAT HAPPENED HERE?" Axel shouted.

"I guess maybe Crystal was fighting," I replied, carefully maneuvering through the debris. "Hey, there are some Purple Coins under this table!" (Purple Coins: 37/100) "Terra, Axel, you guys see any more?"

Terra checked the shelves, at one point pulling out a book and looking in it, before putting it behind her with a disappointed look. I figured she probably couldn't read the language it was in. Then she pulled another book away and tried to look in it…and found a Purple Coin right behind it! "Found one!" she called, waving it. (Purple Coins: 38/100)

"Great!" Axel praised. "But I don't think there are any more here…" He checked a box of books, but came empty handed. "I think it's time we moved on, guys," he told us.

We left the library and found another hallway leading to a room full of random assorted musical instruments, such as a piano, a xylophone, a cello, a harp, three saxophones and some drums. Terra gazed at the instruments with some interest before laying a finger on one of the piano's keys. "Hey, are you sure it's alright to do that?" I asked. "Those instruments may be explosive or something!"

"I'm no piano player, Mario," Terra replied with a sheepish smile. "It's not like my pushing one key will summon ghosts or something…" She pressed…and suddenly, a loud high C rang out, causing all of us to scream and jump back from the piano in fright, as a song began to play loudly from _all_ the instruments, as if the high C was the cue for a concert to begin. "N-never mind," Terra said shakily, guiltily rubbing the side of her head. "I guess that really _wasn't_ a good idea…"

Suddenly, the saxophones began to blast out notes…no, literally musical notes which sent flying out at us! "HOLY CRAP!" I shouted, ducking as an eighth note went flying over my head. The xylophone began to bang out notes as well, sending its own musical notes at Axel, who had to jump fast in order to dodge, but a quarter note still clubbed him in the side of the face. The strings on the harp and the cello began to move, and then blades of air slashed past us. All in all, a really bizarre picture.

Axel narrowed his eyes at each of the instruments, then suddenly put a hand on _Shiruba-Getsu_ and yanked it out of his sheath, the blade already whirling into silver blue light which spiraled around his hands. "Rule over the Midnight Heavens, _Shiruba-Getsu_!" he shouted as it completed its transformation, then jumped at the saxophones and cleaved horizontally.

Just before he struck, we could see the ghosts playing the instruments illuminated in the darkness. "So those were ghosts?" Terra asked, relieved while the ghosts screamed as Axel slashed them to pieces.

But Axel wasn't finished yet. He whirled around and crossed his arms, all the hexagons on _Shiruba-Getsu_'s gauntlets outlining themselves with silver blue. "_Getsuga Tensho_ (Moon Fang Heaven's Slasher)!" he shouted, his wrists flying out and launching twin crescent-shaped blasts at the drums, xylophones, and harp, slashing the ghosts playing them. Axel dropped to the ground, rolled underneath a bad music attack, and slashed another ghost to pieces…not to mention the cello, too. "Oops, I killed an innocent cello," Axel muttered, facepalming himself.

"Never mind the cello, at least we're alive," I replied. "But I wonder if the piano is safe to get near…" Cautiously, I began to walk towards it. As if on cue, the piano suddenly began to open and close its lid, rocking and bucking. It had sharp teeth under its lid! "OMG!" I shouted, jumping away in horror.

Terra jumped over the Mad Piano, raising her hand, and an emerald spike quickly hurled itself at the piano, impaling it. "It won't bother us anymore," Terra declared, mopping her face. She casually walked behind the piano, still trying to lash out at us but unable to because of the emerald spike, and grabbed 3 Purple Coins. (Purple Coins: 41/100)

It was at this point that Luigi suddenly walked in. "What's all the noise for?" he asked, then saw all the destroyed instruments. "O_o"

"You don't want to know," I replied. "So, you got the map?"

"Yeah," Luigi replied, holding up a small circular device. He pressed a button, and a hologram of the entire map popped up, allowing us to see what rooms had been entered. "I checked all the rooms that we've gone into last time, and most of them had no Purple Coins. A few did, though." He held up the Poltergust 5000 and ejected 9 Purple Coins from it. (Purple Coins: 50/100) "The Toads are searching hard for more outside. So, where to now?"

"We'll go to this room, then," I said, pointing at the map. So we walked over to another room with an old fashioned movie projector on it, as well as a blank white screen and two speakers. "Wonder what movie is on?" I asked, pressing the button on the projector.

Immediately, a movie came on that showed a bunch of ghosts, and a few Purple Coins. (I was too bored to remember the plot.) "Is this 3D?" Terra wondered. "Those ghosts look real…"

"Yeah, you're right," Luigi agreed. "Those ghosts almost seem like they're popping out of the screen and coming towards us-HEY, WAIT A MINUTE!" In a flash, the Poltergust was on, and the ghosts screamed as they were pulled "off the screen" and into the vacuum. "I can't believe I fell for a trick which I avoided last time," Luigi muttered, facepalming himself. "The coins are probably real, too." He vacuumed the coins up from the screen. (Purple Coins: 55/100)

"Well, that was an epic movie," Axel muttered sarcastically as we walked back into the foyer. "So, now what? How about I keep checking down here while you guys look upstairs?"

"Alright then, Axel, we'll leave it to you! Come on, let's start checking upstairs!" I shouted, running up the stairs with Terra and Luigi in tow.

However, in the middle of the stairs, three ghosts-one blue, one orange, and one pink-popped out from the walls, laughing sinisterly. Terra screamed in surprise and hid behind me. "Stay back!" I shouted, bending over to point F.L.U.D.D.'s nozzle at them. "I have a gun, and I'm not afraid to use it!"

"What gu-" Terra began, but was interrupted by the ghosts laughing and lunging at us.

"NOW, F.L.U.D.D.!" I shouted. Immediately, I pushed the buttons on F.L.U.D.D.'s handles, and he unleashed three quick jets of water which smashed the ghosts backward into the wall. Luigi raised the Poltergust 5000, and quickly vacuumed them up. But five more ghosts swirled up from behind us and blasted Luigi away. "Terra, strike them with an emerald or something!" I shouted.

"_Hai!_" Terra replied, and waved her hands, causing emerald shards to appear out of thin air and fly at the ghosts, impaling them and killing-no wait, they're already dead-destroying them. "So that's why you didn't want to come back…" Terra commented. "I didn't think there would be so many ghosts here."

Terra, Luigi and I reached the top of the stairs, and my eyes fell immediately across the open door to the ballroom where Frozen Fitzgerald had apparently been fought. That WOULD be the perfect place for a lot of Purple Coins…but I decided not to go there quite yet. "Alright, so this door was locked when I came here," I muttered to myself, testing the four keys Crystal gave me. The Mist Valley key opened it, and I threw open the door to a bedroom.

The bedroom was designed very lavishly, with most of the furniture made out of a soft silk. Soft pink and orange colors streaked through the walls in flowing designs. Considering the colors of the Mist Valley key, it made perfect sense. "Cool! There are Purple Coins here!" I shouted, jumping onto the bed and ricocheting off to the ceiling, grabbing 3 Purple Coins. (Purple Coins: 58/100)

Terra opened a wardrobe and looked inside, then noticed a dress in the Mist Valley colors and pulled it out briefly. "This is a nice dress…" she commented.

"Focus on it later!" Luigi ordered, causing Terra to jump in surprise. "For now, look for the Purple Coins!" He gazed at a TV in the room, then turned on his vacuum, sucking a Purple Coin out of it. (Purple Coins: 59/100) "What is it with movies and Purple Coins, anyway?" he wondered to himself.

"We'll never know," Terra replied, shrugging. She looked in some boxes in the wardrobe and pulled out two more Purple Coins. (61/100) "Is this everything?"

"Yeah, looks like it," Luigi replied. "Let's go." We exited to go to another Bedroom, but this time we found no Purple Coins. "This process is annoying," Luigi grumbled. "Mario, are you sure we shouldn't go to the Ballroom yet?"

"Yeah, I'm sure!" I replied firmly. "Hey, cool, there's a recreation room here!" We looked inside, and there was a pool table, a dartboard, and a chess set…all of which were being played by themselves.

"That looks a bit suspicious," Luigi commented, watching the cue ball fly and hit three balls…all of which went flying off the table and began to bounce off the walls, ignoring the laws of gravity. "WTF?" Luigi screamed and dropped to the floor before the balls could hit him. Then the balls continued to ricochet until they reached their original position. "Okay, that does it!" Luigi growled, and he raised his flashlight, pressing a button and activating strobe function, sending rapidly flashing light through the room and causing all the invisible ghosts around the room to scream and shield their eyes. Terra and I had to cover our eyes, too; strobe lights are pretty painful. Anyway, Luigi vacuumed all the ghosts up in an instant.

"That was some HARDCORE billiards," I commented, opening some boxes and chess sets and finding 6 more Purple Coins. (Purple Coins: 67/100) "Okay, Terra, Luigi and I will head upstairs to the Ballroom! Can you finish up on this floor?"

"I'll try," Terra replied, looking into a drawer and digging around in it a little.

Luigi and I burst into the ballroom…which looked completely busted. Immediately, we could see 12 Purple Coins among the broken chairs and tables, 3 behind a piano which strangely was unharmed, and 5 on the chandelier which glinted in the moonlight beautifully. But in the center of the room, dark blue bolts of shadow flickered around dangerously. "What the heck is that?" I asked.

But Luigi wasn't listening. He was raising his flashlight and shining it around. "No ghosts," he finally declared, putting it down. "This should be easy, provided you don't hurt yourself on the debris. It's pretty sharp…" His voice trailed off when he noticed the small flashes of blue lightning. "Oh god…has it not completely disappeared?"

"What are you talking about, Luigi? Spill it right now!" I shouted, balling my fists. I swear, if he was hiding anything else he did from me…

"Frozen Fitzgerald created a portal to the World of Darkness here," Luigi replied. "It's still open, from the looks of it, but barely. Don't go near that thing, or else you'll get sucked into a place which is probably going to be Hell…or worse."

"Okay…so what should we do about it?" I asked. But I wasn't able to get an answer before chaos began.

Suddenly, from out of the intersecting bolts of shadow, globs of purple goo went flying out and splattered all over us. "EW GROSS!" Luigi shouted, recoiling in horror. The goo oozed to the ground, and we watched as two pools of goo appeared at our feet…before they suddenly rose from the ground in spheres, slowly duplicating and sticking together. "Wait…" Luigi gasped. "Don't tell me these are…"

Then, more goo spiraled to the larger clumps in the room. "RUN!" I shouted, remembering it was gathering right where we were standing. Luigi and I ran in different directions, the clumps beginning to follow us after a small period of time. And then the clumps finally took solid form…into tiny, hatless versions of Luigi and me! "Just as I thought! The Cosmic Clones!" I shouted, grabbing onto the edge of a table and jumping over it, though I caught my foot on the table and slammed into the ground, but quickly picked myself up and kept running. The Cosmic Clone followed, completely imitating the moves I just did, right down to catching his foot on the table in the exact same place and crashing into the floor in the exact same way.

"To think they were hiding in the World of Darkness like that!" Luigi growled. "But what were they doing there?" He ran over to several Purple Coins, hurled himself above the rubble, and grabbed them. (Purple Coins: 71/100) "Never mind, we can find out later! Call the others or something!"

At this moment, F.L.U.D.D.'s nozzle turned by itself. _"Don't worry, Mario! I'll stop them myself!"_ Ignoring my shout that it was useless, F.L.U.D.D. fired a stream of water at my Cosmic Clone…which passed through it entirely. _"What? What is that thing? It won't be hit by my attack?"_ F.L.U.D.D. was stunned.

"Cosmic Clones can't be hurt by anything we do!" I replied, jumping onto a chair and lunging at a Purple Coin in the air. (Purple Coins: 72/100) But in the process, I kicked the chair away. My Cosmic Clone jumped after me…_and sprang off the space where the chair had been a moment ago, despite the fact that nothing was there anymore._ "These things don't let us rest at all!"

It was at this moment that Terra walked into the ballroom. "Mario, Luigi, I've finished searching the second fl-" She stopped when she saw the Cosmic Clones chasing us, and stared for a long moment, completely dumbstruck. "Uh…why are you guys playing Follow the Leader?"

"We're not playing!" I shouted, as Luigi ran in one direction and I ran in another. I jumped over a table and grabbed a Purple Coin. (Purple Coins: 73/100) Luigi began to climb over the same table, but suddenly my Clone jumped and clubbed Luigi in the side of the head with its foot.

Luigi let out a yelp and fell off the table, onto the ground. Then Luigi's Clone began to climb onto the table, and suddenly flew back like Luigi had…while the real Luigi was getting up! "ARGH!" Luigi shouted, flying backward as the Clone struck him. He tried to get up again, but then the Clone began to get up and imitated him flying backwards, striking Luigi again! "THIS ISN'T FAIR!" Luigi complained.

Terra was so dumbfounded by what she just saw that she didn't know what to say. Finally, she told us, "Run around near the walls. I can collect the coins easier that way." So we did, and Terra gathered the Coins one by one. (Purple Coins: 79/100) Then she began to slowly walk towards the piano, eying it suspiciously …and bolting away with a scream as the piano displayed its teeth. Luigi quickly ran in and swiped the Purple Coins before the piano could make another move. (Purple Coins: 82/100)

"Here goes!" I shouted. "I'm _pop flying_!" (I have no idea why the heck I said that O_o) I jumped onto a table, then lunged at the wall and pushed off, landing on the chandelier. I reached over and grabbed all 5 Purple Coins before my Clone caught up and sent me flying off. (Purple Coins: 87/100) "Ow…" I groaned as I got up (but I made sure to get out of the way before my Clone could hit me). "Hey, wait, what the heck?"

Outside the shattered window were 5 Purple Coins! I wracked my brains trying to find out how we missed them while running to avoid the Cosmic Clone. Finally Terra guessed, "They must have been placed in a way such that it was impossible to see them from the ground. But did Aeron find out?"

"I'll get them!" I shouted, jumping out the window. "F.L.U.D.D., change nozzles!" F.L.U.D.D.'s nozzle glowed blue and morphed into two shorter blasters pointing downward, and they began to shoot water towards the ground, propelling me in the air towards the Purple Coins. "Yes! I've got them!" I exclaimed.

"_Mario, we have a problem! We're running out of water!"_ I suddenly heard F.L.U.D.D. shout, and I knew perfectly what that meant.

Gradually, I found myself beginning to plummet. "OH CRAP!" I shouted, reaching up towards the Purple Coins. "Must…get…coins…"

Luigi long jumped out the window. "Don't worry, Mario!" he shouted. "I'll get them!" But then, as he approached me, my Cosmic Clone was right in his path! "IMPOSSIBLE!" Luigi shouted, bumping into the Cosmic Clone and falling towards the ground.

In a flash, Aeron (who we had completely forgot was here) sprang off the roof of the Starshroom, jumped off my head, and grabbed all 5 Purple Coins. (Purple Coins: 92/100) "Can't believe I didn't notice them," he muttered as he dropped to the ground.

I began to pull myself upward. "Dangit, Aeron, why did you have to-HUAL!" I didn't get to finish, because my Cosmic Clone quickly caught up.

Axel walked out of the mansion. "Hey, I found 4 more Purple Coins!" he shouted…and then saw Luigi and I pretty much in an infinite loop of pain because the Cosmic Clones were RIGHT ON TOP OF US. "O_o…what happened upstairs?" he wondered. (Purple Coins: 96/100)

"Actually, we found 4 out here," Aeron replied. "So we have all 100 Purple Coins! (Purple Coins: 100/100) "Mario, Luigi, let's get you out of that infinite loop." He raised his hand, and green energy began to pull in around it. "_Shinsei Bakuha_!" Two quick green bullets flew from his hand, blasting Luigi and I far away from the Clones. "Alright, everyone, pull out your Purple Coins!" Aeron shouted.

Terra walked out of the mansion, Luigi and I ran around a bit more from the Cosmic Clones, and then we finally put all 100 Purple Coins on top of each other. They fused into one Purple Coin, and the star shaped design began to glow…there were two loud screams and a lot of purple goo from our Cosmic Clones, and a Power Star flew out of the now hollow Purple Coin!

"That was _**SO**_ not worth it," I groaned. "Let's just…get the Star…and get out of here…"

**WE GOT A STAR!**

* * *

While we were flying back to Starship Mario, though, there was a bright streak of light, and a comet surged past us to a distant galaxy. "What the-? When did we get another Comet Medal?" I wondered.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you," Aeron replied, sweating a little and scratching the back of his head. "While we were in the Snowy Summit Galaxy, I also obtained a Comet Medal."

"FFFFUUUUUUUUUU-"

* * *

_The rest of this conversation has been omitted due to excessive bad language and spilled blood. Most of the bad language and spilled blood were thanks to the author, who started beating us up while screaming at us to stop ruining his "Fan Service." Oh yes, Ray and Crystal rejoin the group._

* * *

"Well, here we are again," Luigi declared as the Starshroom landed on the snow covered ground of a mountain valley. (How do we have to go through this Galaxy AGAIN? -_-) "But it doesn't look like there are any Purple Coins or whatever…"

"And you're sure there aren't any traps?" Crystal asked, tossing a stone and trying to hear the reverberating sound, but then a gust of wind blew up, drowning out the shark crack of stone on stone. "At the bottom of this mountain, the winds are the worst. It's hard for me to hear clearly with it."

"You can probably hear better than we can," Ray shouted over the wind. "I can barely hear _myself!"_

"These are _not_ good conditions to be under," Axel complained, watching the snow swirl around us. "From the looks of it, the weather got worse while we were away. In addition, there's no guarantee a Star will be where we saw it last. And who knows what weird challenge will await us this time?"

"Well, Lumas, can you detect where the Star's coming from?" I asked.

Immediately, my Luma popped out and began to probe for the Star. "The snow's too thick; it's messing with my senses," he complained. "But I think I feel it coming from there!" He pointed at the vast mountain. "Somewhere inside there!"

Aeron strode away. "I'll get above the clouds and try sensing for it," he called, somehow managing to make himself heard over the intense winds. Then, with another gust, he was flying into the air, away from us into the spiraling snow!

"Wait, he can fly too? Where do you guys' powers end?" I shouted.

"Aeron's basic powers are wind and thunder," Axel replied, also walking away. "It's wind that allows him to do this. But enough said. Let's get moving."

"That path Mario, Axel and I used last time will be too hard to navigate in this weather…" Terra decided, "so we should head the way Luigi did last time."

"Icy paths aren't too bad for me," Crystal replied, shrugging, "so I'll take this route like I did when I came here." She turned to walk towards the path Terra had just said wasn't a good idea. "This mountain is huge. It'd be a good idea if we split up to look for it in several different places."

"In that case, Luigi and I will go with Crystal," Axel declared. "The Toad Brigade will go off over to that path…" He pointed towards a hidden trail which we didn't notice up the side of the mountain, too small for humans. "Mario, Ray and Terra will go through that valley. The steep mountains surrounding it will mean there's less wind and snow, so it'll be easier for you to see and move. Okay! Let's go!"

"Right! Here we go!" I declared, running off in the endless stream of snow in the air, towards the valley. Terra and Ray began to follow as well.

However, Terra looked back to see how Axel, Crystal and Luigi were doing…and then spotted something. "Wait, what are those purple spheres in the air? They're gathering together…and following us!" A bit terrified, she ran ahead of us. "Guys, look out! Behind you!"

"Huh?" Ray and I looked back to see the huge clump of purple goo. "OH CRAP! SO THIS IS WHAT THE COMET'S DOING!" I shouted.

And then from the mass of goo, the Cosmic Clone reappeared, screaming (in a rather high-pitched voice) "LET'S GO! :D"

"What is that?" Ray wondered, a bit freaked out. "It looks like a chibi Mario!" He tried firing a laser at it, but it passed right through the clone. "That's just…FREAKY!" Ray commented. "But at least there's only one…"

"Wait, why is there more goo in the air?" Terra wondered, as suddenly more purple goo clumped to form a second Cosmic Clone, and a third after it! More and more appeared, until 10 Cosmic Clones were following me! "10 Clones?" Terra gasped.

"Hey, at least you're not the one they're chasing!" I retorted. Each Clone was following every single action I did, and running everywhere I had been. "But keep running! If they catch up, it'll pretty much be Hell for us to move around without hitting one!"

"I'll just trip this one!" Ray declared, sticking out his foot in front of a Clone. It touched him…and Ray went flying. "OW! What the heck?"

"They hurt anyone they touch!" Terra realized. "But…what if they don't have anywhere to go?" As I landed and ran away, Terra thrust out her hand, and a giant chasm appeared in the ground where I had been. I yelled and ran as fast as I could, trying to keep ahead of the crumbling rock. But then the Clone landed where I had been when Terra began to create the fissure…and continued to run on the air! "_Bakana…_" Terra breathed in dismay, watching the Clones continue their pursuit.

"Stop it! You guys are just hurting yourselves if you try to stop them! They can't be stopped unless we find the Star!" I shouted. "Come on! Follow me!" We ran through the valley, the Clones hot on our heels. "Is there any way to get away from them?" I wondered.

"They'll keep chasing _you_," Ray retorted. "But _we_ can escape easily. Terra?" Terra nodded and threw out her hand, and rocks began to protrude out of the walls, allowing Ray and Terra to run up them and keep away from the Clones. However, the winds began to pick up, and the two began to slow, hindered by the strong gusts and now the snow whipping in front of them. "Turn it into a tunnel!" Ray shouted.

"_Hai!_" Terra replied, thrusting her hand out again. This time, the walls curved up next to and over them, providing cover from the weather.

"Well, they're safe," I muttered, "but I'm still being chased." I rounded a corner, dropped off a short ledge, and continued running. Suddenly, there was a rumble, and from above frozen rocks and snow began to fall towards me! "An avalanche!" I shouted, continuing to run. "I'll have to long jump to get away!" But no matter how many times I long jumped, it still didn't seem like I could get away. And I didn't have enough time to put on my penguin suit… "Crap, what do I do?" I wondered.

It was at that moment that I suddenly noticed an Ice Flower growing nearby! "Yes! That'll save me!" I shouted, grabbing it. Light blue pollen covered me and turned me transparent, and I immediately began to skate across the snow, my slippery feet sliding over the ice nicely. The boulders crashed a few feet behind me, but the shockwave sent me tumbling head over heels. The Clones sailed through the boulders unharmed, and I had to quickly get to my feet before they could hit me AGAIN.

Terra and Ray jumped out of the tunnel at that moment, as it exploded behind them in dust and bits of rock-probably because of the avalanche. Terra screamed and fell face-first into the snow, but Ray rolled and got to his feet immediately. "Mario, are they sti-" Ray's voice trailed off when he saw the Clones sliding out of the boulders. "Oh, come on…" He picked up Terra and ran away with me. "Will they ever stop chasing us? I mean, do they get tired or anything?"

"If I get tired, sure," I replied. "But in that case, _I_ wouldn't be able to continue, so considering I am the most awesome, would you really want that?"

"Yes," Ray replied automatically. (What the heck is _wrong_ with him? D:)

At this point, we reached the large hole in the ground which the Starshroom created by crashing before. "There's the path up!" I shouted, pointing at the zigzagging trail up the mountain. "We're almost there. If I can just keep running to the top-"

"We don't have enough energy to run from them _that_ far!" Terra cut off my words, swinging her arm to the side. Pillars of rock burst up underneath our feet, and as we jumped off, continuing forward, Terra created another one, even higher, and I sprang up the pillars quickly with my awesomeness, reaching the cave which we hid in during the blizzard in no time. And there was the Star! "Yes! We got it!" I shouted, running towards the Star.

"Mario, wait-" Terra began, only just entering the cave.

**WE GOT A STAR!**

* * *

From the cave all the way to Starship Mario, it wasn't until I reached the Starship that I noticed something… "Hey, where are the others?" I suddenly wondered, looking around.

"Wait, WHAT?" Lubba toppled over when he heard this. "YOU LEFT EVERYONE BEHIND? WHAT THE HECK, CAPTAIN!"

"But they were too slow!" I argued. "So it's not my fault…right?"

"Urgh, never mind…" Lubba muttered, face-palming himself. "I don't think I can argue with this guy…"

At that moment, there were two bright flashes of light, and then Terra and Ray were standing on the Starship. Their Lumas flashed and disappeared into Terra's bracelets/Ray's jacket. "Good thing we had the Lumas' power and help," Terra sighed.

I wasn't paying attention to them until I heard heavy footsteps approaching me quickly, and then suddenly I was yanked backwards and spun around to look at an unusually angry Ray. "Okay, what the heck, Mario! Just what were you thinking now?"

"Wh-what? Ray, what are you saying?" I protested, not understanding.

Ray wasn't angry normally, but now he was blowing off a heck lot of steam. "You left us behind with all the Cosmic Clones entering the cavern even after Terra made those rock pillars which helped you get up to the Star! How selfish can you get, Mario?"

"Hey, we need to get Stars so this thing can travel and we can stop Bowser, remember?" I protested. "I'm just putting our goals first!"

"EXACTLY!" Ray raged, grabbing me by the shoulders. "So you're saying as long as Bowser is defeated, we're _expendable_? Are you calling us your _tools_?"

"Ray, Mario, please stop!" Terra held up her hands to push us apart, but we ignored her.

"Ray, what would you prefer, _you_ dying or the _universe_?" I hollered. "You're putting your _own_ existence in front of your friends'?"

"The Sunstrikers don't do it like, 'We will sacrifice our friends for our dreams!'" Ray yelled in my face. "What we say is, 'We will put our _own_ lives on the line for our dreams!' Don't you get it? If Terra and I were trapped in a death-trap which only one could escape from, I wouldn't kick her in the face and let her fall as I escaped! Even if it meant both our deaths, I'd still try to save the both of us!"

"But this is the _universe_ we're talking about right now!" I protested. "So-"

"I don't care if it's all of existence, I'm not going to have my life turned into a _stepping stone_ to save it!" Ray shouted. "Do you get that?"

"_Kimi-tachi…YAMERO!_ (You guys…STOP!)_"_ Terra shouted, and she shoved us both apart violently with an earthquake. Both of us staggered from the blow, and when we got up, the rage and sorrow in Terra's eyes was even more staggering. "Please don't fight!" Terra begged. "I don't want to see you two fighting! You're both my friends…" Both Ray and I began to argue, but we were cut short when we noticed tears streaming down Terra's face, and she then ran off. Neither of us knew what to do…

An awkward silence passed between us. Finally, Ray just walked off, leaving me alone on the deck. I stood there for several eternal minutes, wondering what just happened in our group.


	26. chapter:tears of moon

_9,016 years after the world's creation_

It was still dark on a floating city. The sun would be rising soon, but for now, not a soul was awake-except a lone figure standing at the edge.

Axel Nightblazer, 15 years old, stood alone. He was dressed in a long, flowing dark blue coat with silver edges, a shirt and pants underneath-both even darker blue, and black boots which all had high-class curly patterns decorating them. The air he possessed around himself let all know that he was a powerful man. And yet, at this moment he felt like the most powerless being on earth.

There was no one to speak to, no one he could ask for consolation about the problems on his mind. The black buildings behind him were tall, cold and foreboding, and the dew-covered grass beneath his feet was freezing. And so, he only could think to himself about what had happened last night.

A single light flashed on behind him. A civilian who had turned on the light looked out the door, and the feeling one got when looking at Axel was so frightening they had to duck away. Axel heard the door slam behind him, but didn't react. Shortly afterward, behind the boy, a moth drifted towards the light of the person who looked out the door, drawn towards its radiance. It brushed against the luminous lamp-and the discharge of energy that resulted sent it falling to the ground, dead.

Axel watched it for several seconds, wondering why fate had a way of doing that to people-drawing them along, then tearing them to pieces. _Reminds me of that song..._He lifted his hands up to a pair of silver headphones on his ears which his adoptive parents had had fashioned for him, and pressed buttons on them, playing a song which humankind would never know until many years later, when a band from Japan displayed it to the public.

***chapter:ask (vistlip)***

_Keikoutou ni ga gajareteiru…__  
__Kandenshi ni kare ochi teiku.__  
__Boku wa sorewo damari komi mitsu meteiru,__  
__Nande mata mune ga itai nokana?_

**A moth draws near the fluorescent light…  
And gets electrocuted.  
As I silently watch,  
Why does my heart ache again?**

Music playing, Axel turned back to the edge of the city and held a sword up in front of him, and it dissolved into black mist, which swirled around him. When it peeled off, his coat had acquired several more ornate, curly patterns. Black feathers extended from his back in two great wings. A single wingbeat propelled him off the island and into the clouds below. And only one thought echoed through his mind as he tumbled around until he finally stabilized on the winds. _Pterra…_

_Isshun dake fubuki ga are ru asayake noseidesu.__  
__Kono heya aoku soma reba.__  
__Uttou shii sonzai hitotsu….Shou kori mo nai ne?__  
__Jikan genshu de araware te kita._

**It snows violently for a moment.  
The morning glow dyes my room blue.  
Only one depressing existence…I still haven't learned my lesson, have I?  
She arrived perfectly on time.**

Axel flew through a cloud, and he was so high up that when he flew out, his black wings were covered in sparkling ice crystals. The glow of the sun which had not yet risen dyed these crystals a shade of soft blue as he dispelled them from his feathers with several powerful wingbeats. All by himself, he felt extremely depressed, with no one to comfort him. And then he thought once again about the events that led up to last night…and how _she_ had stopped by his room, he treated her poorly-the worst way to treat someone the last time they enter your room.

* * *

_Sakki kara doa no sukima kara mite iru;  
Kami no nagai shoujo wa shiroi wanpisu ga niau.__  
__Batabata Wa shiri mawari mimizawari;__  
__Gokigen naname na, boku wa kami wo tsukan de yokusou ni toza su._

**A girl with long hair has been watching the doorway for a while;  
Her white dress suits her.  
She runs around wildly; it hurts my ears;  
In a foul mood, I grab her by the hair and lock her in the bathroom.**

Yesterday afternoon, he had received an order from the Government of Laputa, the great City in the Sky which he lived on. It was to lead a secret search-and-destroy mission on a government project from Laruina, the warlike City of Earth. Laputa found out about this project, which was to make a "stealth ship" which could secretly fly above the ozone layer and pass through Laputan sensors without triggering them. So Axel had to eliminate this great threat to Laputa.

But while he was sleeping before the mission began, there was suddenly lots of noise of someone running around. Cracking an eye open, he noticed a girl in a white dress with long, messy golden blonde hair. She was running around frantically, trying to sort out the things he'd need while glancing at the clock and the doorway all the time. "Oh my, Axel, can't you be organized for once? This is your first time leading a mission, I thought you'd be a bit more prepared…"

"Pterra," Axel muttered, sitting up and rubbing his eyes with annoyance. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be fussing about your own stuff right now?"

"Axel, don't you want to do _well_ on this mission?" Pterra protested. She worried _way_ too much about stuff. "Can't you prepare a bit bet-augh! What are you doing?"

"Just stop," Axel grumbled, pushing her out of his room and closing the door. He heard several loud screams of rage and shock from Pterra, who was pounding the door. "I'm not worried…" Axel quietly declared to no one in particular. "Not one bit…" At that time, he wouldn't have admitted that he was outright stepping on Pterra's feelings.

* * *

_Konna tsukuri wanashi ga….nanno tameni aru noka?  
Kitto imi sura rikai dekizu ni tantan to utau kimi ga iru.__  
__Konna tsukuri wanashi wo shinu made tsuki touse ba,  
Kitto uso mo uso dewa naku natte. Yuurei ni ae ru kiga shiteta…_

**This fake story…why does it exist?  
You sing in a detached tone without even understanding the reason.  
If this fake story keeps running until my death,  
Even lies will stop being lies, and I'll be able to see ghosts. That's what I thought…**

And then, the mission. That was where everything went wrong. Axel, Pterra, and their team were dropped off above the laboratory. The entrance was surrounded with several boulders, and the hatchway was open. "So this is the place?" Axel asked, looking around. Ignoring Pterra telling the team to watch out and scan for defenses, Axel recklessly walked into the laboratory without noticing any of the hidden sensors. The alarm sounded, and guards were upon them in seconds. "Oh crap!" Axel shouted. "Look out, guys!" He didn't seem at that time to think about who caused this.

The special team had to fight hard to survive, unleashing their powers of Wind again and again. However, the guards fought back with the power of earth. And so the powers of Earth and Wind clashed in a wild frenzy which Pterra and Axel were caught in the middle of, panicked and desperate. The team caused a sandstorm to spiral up while deflecting some dust, however, and in the confusion Axel found himself coughing and stumbling, until suddenly there was darkness. "Is anyone here?" he asked.

Silence. And then he heard a faint, fearful whisper: "Axel? Is that you?" he heard. Pterra was there. But they were alone, with a ship to take down.

* * *

_Isshun dake enjou shite iku yuuyake nosei desu;  
Kono heya akaku soma reba._

**Everything bursts into flames for a second;  
The sunset dyes my room red.**

Still caught in the memories, Axel didn't realize the sun was setting until the bright crimson light caught his feathers, dazzling him until he had to look away. Now his thoughts changed again for some seconds to the first time he met the girl whose death he had caused._Sakki kara tenjou ni mie kakure shiteiru;  
Kami no nagai shoujo no kuroi kage ga mitsu karanai.__  
__Anmari kanashi souni shite iru kara;  
Gokigen naname na boku wa "shikatanai ... " to hana wo soe mashita._

* * *

**A girl with long hair has been appearing and disappearing for a while;  
I can't find her black shadow.  
She looks incredibly sad;  
In a foul mood, I mutter "It can't be helped…" as icing on the cake.**

Three years before, he always went out to play with his friends in the streets of the floating city. And he noted the little girl with the golden blonde hair hovering in the background, gazing at them with shy admiration. "Hey!" Axel shouted, running over. "You want to play with us?" But when Axel neared, she would look startled and disappear to the point where Axel couldn't even catch a glimpse of her shadow.

Events like this followed, time after time. Curiosity turned to annoyance as time passed, and eventually when Axel saw her again, he just muttered "It can't be helped," and ignored her. Once again, he didn't consider that he might have crushed a heart.

* * *

_Konna tsukuri wanashi ga…nanno tameni aru noka?  
Kitto ima demo rikai dekizu ni tantan to utau kimi ga iru.__  
__Konna tsukuri wanashi wo shinu made tsuki touse ba,  
Kitto uso mo uso dewa naku natte…Nee?_

**This fake story…why does it exist?  
You sing in a detached tone without even understanding the reason.  
If this fake story keeps running until my death,  
Even lies will stop being lies, and I'll be able to see ghosts…Right?**

Everything could have gone right if Axel hadn't went to turn on the lights and see where they were, rather than go back and help the special team. When he turned them on, they suddenly found saw the "stealth ship" right in front of them! "There it is! Let's get it!" Axel shouted. Immediately, again without thinking about the risks, Axel threw a grenade at the ship.

"No, Axel!" Pterra tried to stop him, but it was too late-the grenade bounced against an invisible barrier, which triggered another trap, causing laser blasts rang out. The grenade bounced back, and Axel and Pterra had to jump away to avoid the explosion. "Axel, the computer terminal over there should be able to deactivate the shield!" Pterra called, pointing. "But don't you remember we were briefed about there being a shield protecting the 'stealth ship?'"

"Frick, I forgot," Axel muttered, running over to the computer terminal. "Alright, now for the access code Laputa hacked from their systems…" He typed in the code-and then the screen turned red. _ACCESS DENIED_. "WHAT?" Axel shouted in dismay. "The code didn't work!"

"The code didn't-" But then, lasers rang out, and Axel whirled to see them fly at the two. As fast as he could, he jumped down towards Pterra and grabbed her, pulling them both out of the way of the attack. But then more lasers forced the two apart, and before Axel knew it, one of them skewered the much-slower Pterra right in the chest!

Two screams echoed through the room. Pterra's cry of pain, and Axel's shout of horror. Pterra fell, blood dripping from the numerous burned wounds in her body. Enraged, Axel raised his already dissolving sword, and shadows spun around him. Black feathers flew around the room, destroying the lasers and smashing a hole in the ceiling for him to fly out of with Pterra's body. "A-Axel…I-I don't think I can make it…" Pterra groaned. "But please…c-can you t-t-take care of my Chikorita for me? I-I don't have any relatives who can do it…"

"I will," Axel replied solemnly. Pterra smiled…and then her body slowly turned green and transparent, then dissolved into green dust which floated away in the wind. The last of the dust drifted away in Axel's hands…and was replaced by his own tears. He wasn't able to apologize for their-no, _his_ failure, and her death. It felt like he should have said more, but he didn't.

* * *

_Konna ni mo anata wa kirei de,__  
__Konna ni mo anata wa soumei de,__  
__Konna ni mo anata wa anata de,__  
__Konna ni mo anata wo aishi teru,__  
__Konna ni mo anata wa toumei de,__  
__Konna ni mo anata wa utsuro de,__  
__Konna ni mo konna ni mo anata wa ... Anata wa ... Aa ..._

**You are so beautiful,  
You are so wise,  
You are so yourself,  
You are so loved by me,  
You are so clear,  
You are so empty,  
You are so…you…aa…**

Heart heavy with sorrow, Axel turned to head back to the island he took off from-and the scattering light in the night made him suddenly see Pterra in front of him! Joyously, he reached out towards it without thinking clearly about reality, only about how beautiful she looked, how wise she seemed, how she was true to herself and never imitated anyone. Just seeing these made him delighted, and he flew faster.

But something was wrong, he realized at last. Now Pterra started to look clear and transparent. All the happiness in her smiling face suddenly disappeared, and Axel started to feel that something was wrong. Then he flew straight through her, and was bathed in a cold, wispy cloud. Finally coming to his senses, he realized he had hallucinated. Clenching his fists in fury at himself, he continued back to the island.

* * *

_Goran garasu mitaina karada…Shuurihi wa darega kure nnosa?__  
__Tae kirezu ukareta hana ni sae chanto aite ga irunoni na.__  
__Hai mamireno kisetsu ga kuroku ai koumure no machi wo some teku.__  
__Daikirai da daikirai, Boku wa ... Boku wa ..._

**A body transparent like glass…who will pay the repair costs?  
Even flowers that can't help but bloom have partners.  
The ash-covered season dyes the city of lost love black.  
I hate it, I hate it, I…I…**

Axel descended upon the "city" he had flown from: the Laputian Super Weapon, Machu Mach. As the day had progressed, black had turned to brown from the rising of the sun. Thankfully, there was no one around at the time. His wings' feathers began to melt into shadows, and then those dispelled altogether, as well as some of the fancy designs on his coat. He walked back to his apartment and collapsed into his bed, exhausted-not from using his _Bankai_ merely for the purpose of flying around freely, but emotionally exhausted. He clearly couldn't get over that day yet.

As he gazed out the window, the sun finally set-and shadow descended upon Machu Mach, and upon him again. He had certainly loved Pterra, and they once worked together very well. And now his partner and lover was gone forever. _This despair…will I ever get over it?_

Now the moon was rising. The Laputian Military had decided he didn't have enough experience at leading a mission, and was going to send him to an academy in the Orre Region-a practical paradise, especially because it was neutral territory. But Axel had a feeling-and he felt this way, too-that it wasn't experience that contributed to his failure, it was his reckless and lazy personality which made him blind to the defenses which would lead to…

"A-Axel?" Axel shifted to look down at the floor, and saw a little Chikorita looking up at him with a frightened expression. "I-I had another nightmare…" Without a word, Axel reached out and picked up the Chikorita and placed her in his bed, then pulled the covers over. This Chikorita-her name was Fleur-was Pterra's originally. The last thing she had wished for was for Axel to take care of her, for her parents had died in battle, leaving her an orphan. _And that's the least I can do..._

* * *

_The present world, July 2012 A.D._

"Axel! Oi, Axel! Wake up!"

"Urgh…wha…? More sleep, thank you…" Axel muttered, rolling over.

"We have a big day ahead of us! _Onegai!_ (Please!) All the others are awake! Wake up, Axel!"

"Argh, Pterra, can't you stop worrying for once…?" Axel grumbled, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "Seriously, it's annoying when you-no, anyone-worries too much. Just cut it out and let me sleep…" He was about to roll over and go back to sleep, and not have to see her golden hair and round, gold eyes giving him an annoyed/worried look…

**SMACK**

"OW!" Axel shouted, and sprang up, rubbing his cheek. Quickly, he noticed the cold air first, which shouldn't have been there. Then he looked at Pterra, ready to see her gold eyes with that look again…except they were green. _Green eyes? Oh wait…was I dreaming?_

Quickly, everything whipped away around him. The dark blue blanket he slept on faded away to light blue, and the corners rounded out to form a circular room. A compass rose decorated the floor, as well as several symbols which depicted various legends heard in different parts of the universe. The wardrobe melted away, and was replaced by six other beds identical to his own. His soft blue lamp and the nightstand it sat upon disappeared into the wall, but more star-shaped ones were positioned around the room. He was not in his room on Laputa; he was in the living quarters of Starship Mario.

And then he had to look at Pterra again. Her long, blonde hair shrank down to short and acquired a brown hue. The white dress she wore melted away into an emerald green T-shirt and matching miniskirt. Brown sandals covered her feet, and green bracelets gleamed from her wrists. Axel blinked, just to make sure: This was not Pterra, Lieutenant from the Laputian Military…this was Terra, the Shining Star of Earth. How did he mistake the two? _You should really let go of that memory,_ he thought to himself.

Terra shrank a little. "A-Axel? Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Ah…sorry," Axel sighed, standing up and stretching. "I think maybe it was the bracelets. They're…quite beautiful."

"Eh? _Daijoubu desuka?_ (Are you alright?)" Terra gave him a long look of disbelief. "You've had a long time to look at them, and you notice _now_?"

"I don't know, maybe I've been out of it for a while," Axel muttered, grabbing _Shiruba-Getsu_ and putting it on his back, strapping it on. _But I really _have_ been today…_ he thought to himself. _Have I been shouldering this for too long? _"Sorry about that." He went to stand on the compass rose, and blue light began to rise around him. "But enough about it. Let's do our best today, Terra."

"_Ah! _(Yeah!)" Terra agreed, walking over to stand next to him. The bodies of the two slowly became blue light, and then they faded away to reappear on the deck.


End file.
